Effects of ginsenosides Re and Rg3 on intracellular redox state and cell proliferation in C6 glioma cells.docVIP

Chinese Medicine BioMedCentral Research Open Access Effects of ginsenosides Re and Rg3 on intracellular redox state and cell proliferation in C6 glioma cells Wai Yee Ng and Mildred S Yang* Address: Department of Biology, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong SAR, PR China Email: Wai Yee Ng -.hk; Mildred S Yang* - msyang@.hk * Corresponding author Published: 11 July 2008 Received: 26 February 2008 Accepted: 11 July 2008 Chinese Medicine 2008, 3:8 doi:10.1186/1749-8546-3-8 This article is available from: /content/3/1/8 ? 2008 Ng and Yang; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Background: Cellular redox state is important to cell growth and death. The growth of tumor cells may be modulated by intracellular reduced glutathione/oxidized glutathione (GSH/GSSG). The present study aims to investigate the effects of ginsenosides Re and Rg3 on cellular redox state and cell proliferation in C6 glioma cells. Methods: Cultured C6 glioma cells were exposed to various concentrations of either Rg3 or Re for 24 hours. Cell growth and death were measured by the BrdU incorporation assay and the 3- (4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay respectively. Cellular redox state was determined by free radical production using flow cytometry and GSH/GSSG using spectrofluorometry. Results: At a sub-lethal concentration, Re suppressed cell proliferation with a significant decrease in BrdU incorporation. Re did not increase reactive oxygen species (ROS) production but increased GSH/GSSG via increased activity of gamma glutamylcystenyl synthase (γ-GCS). In contrast, Rg3 increased free radical production and reduced GSH/GSSG. The effects of R