METHODS: Diabetic rats were treated orally with the vehicle or the ginger extract (75 mg/kg/day) over a period of 24 weeks along with regular monitoring of bodyweight and blood glucose and weekly fundus photography. At the end of the 24-week treatment, the retinas were isolated for histopathological examination under a light microscope, transmission electron microscopy, and determination of the retinal tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels.
RESULTS: Oral administration of the ginger extract resulted in significant reduction of hyperglycemia, the diameter of the retinal vessels, and vascular basement membrane thickness. Improvement in the architecture of the retinal vasculature was associated with significantly reduced expression of NF-κB and reduced activity of TNF-α and VEGF in the retinal tissue in the ginger extract-treated group compared to the vehicle-treated group.
CONCLUSIONS: The current study showed that ginger extract containing 5% of 6-gingerol attenuates the retinal microvascular changes in rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes through anti-inflammatory and antiangiogenic actions. Although precise molecular targets remain to be determined, 6-gingerol seems to be a potential candidate for further investigation.
Methods: Myoblast cells were cultured into young and senescent state before treated with different concentrations of ginger standardised extracts containing different concentrations of 6-gingerol and 6-shogaol. Analysis on cellular morphology and myogenic purity was carried out besides determination of SA-β-galactosidase expression and cell cycle profile. Myoblast differentiation was quantitated by determining the fusion index, maturation index, and myotube size.
Results: Treatment with ginger extracts resulted in improvement of cellular morphology of senescent myoblasts which resembled the morphology of young myoblasts. Our results also showed that ginger treatment caused a significant reduction in SA-β-galactosidase expression on senescent myoblasts indicating prevention of cellular senescence, while cell cycle analysis showed a significant increase in the percentage of cells in the G0/G1 phase and reduction in the S-phase cells. Increased myoblast regenerative capacity was observed as shown by the increased number of nuclei per myotube, fusion index, and maturation index.
Conclusions: Ginger extracts exerted their potency in promoting muscle regeneration as indicated by prevention of cellular senescence and promotion of myoblast regenerative capacity.
METHODS: A systematic literature review was performed on 5 databases from inception up to 31 December 2019. These interactions were classified depending on the likelihood of interaction and supporting evidences.
RESULTS: A total of 149 articles describing 78 herbs, food or dietary supplements were reported to interact with warfarin. These reports described potentiation with 45 (57.7%) herbs, food or dietary supplements while 23 (29.5%) reported inhibition and 10 (12.8%) reported limited impact on warfarin pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Twenty unique herb and dietary supplements also reported to result in minor bleeding events, such as purpura and gum bleeding as well as major events such as intracranial bleeding that led to death.
CONCLUSION: While most food, herbs and supplements can be safely taken in moderation, healthcare professionals should be aware of the increased risk of bleeding when taking several food and herbs. These include Chinese wolfberry, chamomile tea, cannabis, cranberry, chitosan, green tea, Ginkgo biloba, ginger, spinach, St. John's Wort, sushi and smoking tobacco. Patients should be counselled to continue to seek advice from their healthcare professionals when starting any new herbs, food or supplement.
METHODS: We performed a systematic search using PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Web of Science for randomised controlled trials (RCTs), published until March 17, 2021. The quality assessment was carried out using the Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool. The Q-test and I 2 tests were used for the determination of heterogeneity of the included studies. Data were pooled using a random-effects model, and weighted mean difference (WMD) was used for the overall effect size.
RESULTS: Pooled findings of the five RCTs demonstrated that ginger supplementations had significantly reduced hs-CRP (WMD -0.42 mg/L; 95% CI, -0.78, -0.05, P = 0.03), TNF-α (-2.13 pg/mL; 95% CI: -3.41, -0.86, P = 0.001), and IL-6 (WMD: -0.61 pg/mL; 95% CI: -0.92, -0.30, P = 0.001) levels in patients with T2DM. The quality assessment of the studies showed that all of the included studies were at high risk of bias.
CONCLUSIONS: The meta-analysis shows that ginger supplementations reduced inflammatory parameters in patients with T2DM. Nonetheless, the reduction is relatively small, and its meaningful clinical effects are unknown. Future high-quality RCTs are needed to confirm the beneficial effects of ginger supplementation in patients with T2DM.
PURPOSE: The present investigation was undertaken to characterize the interaction between 6-shogaol and the main in vivo transporter, human serum albumin (HSA).
METHODS: Various binding characteristics of 6-shogaol-HSA interaction were studied using fluorescence spectroscopy. Thermal stability of 6-shogaol-HSA system was determined by circular dichroism (CD) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) techniques. Identification of the 6-shogaol binding site on HSA was made by competitive drug displacement and molecular docking experiments.
RESULTS: Fluorescence quench titration results revealed the association constant, Ka of 6-shogaol-HSA interaction as 6.29 ± 0.33 × 10(4) M(-1) at 25 ºC. Values of the enthalpy change (-11.76 kJ mol(-1)) and the entropy change (52.52 J mol(-1) K(-1)), obtained for the binding reaction suggested involvement of hydrophobic and van der Waals forces along with hydrogen bonds in the complex formation. Higher thermal stability of HSA was noticed in the presence of 6-shogaol, as revealed by DSC and thermal denaturation profiles. Competitive ligand displacement experiments along with molecular docking results suggested the binding preference of 6-shogaol for Sudlow's site I of HSA.
CONCLUSION: All these results suggest that 6-shogaol binds to Sudlow's site I of HSA through moderate binding affinity and involves hydrophobic and van der Waals forces along with hydrogen bonds.
METHODS: A structured electronic search on worldwide accepted scientific databases (Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, SciFinder, Wiley Online Library) was carried out to compile the relevant information. Some information was obtained from books and database on medicinal plants used in various countries.
RESULTS: About 60 metabolites, mainly polyphenols, and terpenoids have been isolated and identified. However, most of the reported pharmacological studies were based on crude extracts, and only a few of those isolated metabolites, particularly zerumbone have been investigated for biological and pharmacological activities. Many of the mechanistic studies to understand the pharmacological effects of the plant are limited by many considerations with regard to design, experimentation and interpretation.
CONCLUSION: The bioactive metabolites should be further investigated on their safety and more elaborate preclinical studies before clinical trials can be undertaken.
OBJECTIVE: The present study evaluates the protective effect of the standardized extract of ginger against isoproterenol (ISO)-induced myocardial infarction (MI) in rats.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Wistar rats were pretreated orally with three doses of standardized ginger extract (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg of body weight) or propranolol (5 mg/mL) for 28 d prior to ISO (85 mg/kg) induced MI in two doses on days 29 and 30. The rats were sacrificed 48 h after the first induction; serum and hearts were collected for biochemical and histopathological analysis.
RESULTS: Gingerols and shogaols were identified and quantitatively analyzed in the extracts using validated reversed phase HPLC methods. Pretreatment with ginger extract at 400 mg/kg showed a significant decrease (p ginger exhibited cardioprotective potential in treating myocardial injury following ISO administration.