Abstract
Panax ginseng Meyer is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine and has been proposed to heal any disease. Ginseng and the major ingredient saponins (ginsenosides) have multiple pharmacological activities, such as antioxidant, antiaging, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory activity and are used as antidepressive, anti-stress, anti-fatigue, and anxiolytic agents in depressive state. The antidepressant-like functions have been proved in animal models of depression prepared by physical and psychological stress. Antidepressant function of ginseng is mainly due to modulation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and immune system and anti-inflammation rather than modulation of monoamine transmitter systems, brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression, and hippocampal neurogenesis in contrast to other phytochemicals. The clinical trials of ginseng have been reported mainly in depressive state of postmenopausal women by the estrogen-like function and subjects suffered from fatigue and anxiety, but scarcely reported in major depressive disorder and dipolar depression. Ginseng ingredients are poorly absorbed in human body and rapidly metabolized and only limited amounts can cross the blood–brain barrier into the brain. Discrepancy of therapeutic efficacy of ginseng between preclinical and clinical results suggests necessity to increase the bioavailability and stability for clinical application. The benefits and limits of antidepressant functions of ginseng and ginsenosides are discussed in comparison with other phytochemicals.
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Naoi, M., Maruyama, W., Nagai, M.S. (2020). Ginseng and Ginsenosides in Depression. In: Riederer, P., Laux, G., Nagatsu, T., Le, W., Riederer, C. (eds) NeuroPsychopharmacotherapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56015-1_92-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56015-1_92-1
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