Figure 4
Anti-proliferative effects of the ginsenosides from P. notoginseng. In vitro anti-proliferative effects of ginsenosides in the raw (A) and steamed (B) Panax notoginseng extracts in SNU449 (black square), SNU182 (white square) and HepG2 (grey square) human liver cancer cells. The cells were exposed to these ginsenosides at 250 μg/ml for 48 hours (SNU449 and SNU182) or 72 hours (HepG2) and assayed by WST-1. Plot shows the average percentage cell viability ± standard deviation as compared to vehicle control (100 ± 4.5% viability) of three independent experiments conducted in triplicates each. Statistical significance was considered when P < 0.05 (*) and P < 0.001 (**). (A) Ginsenosides Rg1, Rb1, Re, Rd and notoginsenoside R1 in the raw P. notoginseng were screened. Most of the ginsenosides in the raw P. notoginseng showed significant anti-proliferative activities against SNU449 and HepG2 but not SNU182. *1: P = 0.007; *2: P = 0.012; *3: P = 0.016; *4: P = 0.010; *5: P = 0.002; *6: P = 0.002; *7: P = 0.010; *8: P = 0.048. (B) Ginsenosides Rk3, 20R-Rh1, Rh2, 20S-Rg3, Rk1, 20S-Rh1 in the steamed P. notoginseng were screened. Most of these ginsenosides showed significant anti-proliferative effects on SNU449, SNU182 and HepG2 with ginsenosides Rh2, Rk1, Rk3 and 20S-Rg3 being the more active ones. Overall, ginsenosides in the steamed P. notoginseng showed greater anti-proliferative activities than ginsenosides in the raw P. notoginseng. *9: P = 0.017; *10: P = 0.002; *11: P = 0.003; *12: P = 0.005