Longevity in medicine can be defined as a long life without mental or physical deficits. This can be prevented by
Alzheimer's disease (AD). Current conventional AD treatments only alleviate the symptoms without reversing AD progression. Recent studies demonstrated that Panax ginseng extract improves AD symptoms in patients with AD, and the two main components of ginseng might contribute to AD amelioration.
Ginsenosides show various AD-related
neuroprotective effects.
Gintonin is a newly identified ginseng constituent that contains lysophosphatidic acids and attenuates AD-related brain neuropathies.
Ginsenosides decrease
amyloid β-
protein (Aβ) formation by inhibiting β- and γ-
secretase activity or by activating the nonamyloidogenic pathway, inhibit
acetylcholinesterase activity and Aβ-induced neurotoxicity, and decrease Aβ-induced production of
reactive oxygen species and neuroinflammatory reactions.
Oral administration of
ginsenosides increases the expression levels of
enzymes involved in
acetylcholine synthesis in the brain and alleviates Aβ-induced
cholinergic deficits in AD models. Similarly,
gintonin inhibits Aβ-induced neurotoxicity and activates the nonamyloidogenic pathway to reduce Aβ formation and to increase
acetylcholine and
choline acetyltransferase expression in the brain through
lysophosphatidic acid receptors.
Oral administration of
gintonin attenuates brain
amyloid plaque deposits, boosting hippocampal
cholinergic systems and neurogenesis, thereby ameliorating learning and memory impairments. It also improves cognitive functions in patients with AD.
Ginsenosides and
gintonin attenuate AD-related neuropathology through multiple routes. This review focuses research demonstrating that ginseng constituents could be a candidate as an adjuvant for AD treatment. However, clinical investigations including efficacy and tolerability analyses may be necessary for the clinical acceptance of ginseng components in combination with conventional AD drugs.