Panax ginseng improves physical recovery and energy utilization on chronic fatigue in rats through the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signalling pathway

Abstract

Context

Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer (Araliaceae) is a tonic herb used in ancient Asia.

Objective

This study investigated the antifatigue effect of P. ginseng on chronic fatigue rats.

Materials and methods

Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into control, model and EEP (ethanol extraction of P. ginseng roots) (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg) groups (n = 8). The rats were subcutaneously handled with loaded swimming once daily for 26 days, except for the control group. The animals were intragastrically treated with EEP from the 15th day. On day 30, serum, liver and muscles were collected, and the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling pathway was evaluated.

Results

The swimming times to exhaust of the rats with EEP were significantly longer than that without it. EEP spared the amount of muscle glycogen, hepatic glycogen and blood sugar under the chronic state. In addition, EEP significantly (p < 0.05) decreased serum triglycerides (1.24 ± 0.17, 1.29 ± 0.04 and 1.20 ± 0.21 vs. 1.58 ± 0.13 mmol/L) and total cholesterol (1.64 ± 0.36, 1.70 ± 0.15 and 1.41 ± 0.19 vs. 2.22 ± 0.19 mmol/L) compared to the model group. Regarding the regulation of energy, EEP had a positive impact on promoting ATPase activities and relative protein expression of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway.

Conclusions

Our results suggested that EEP effectively relieved chronic fatigue, providing evidence that P. ginseng could be a potential dietary supplement to accelerate recovery from fatigue.

Keywords:

• Herb
• antifatigue
• UPLC–MS
• saponin

Author contributions

All authors participated in the study design and modification. G.L.-Z. and B.F.-L. carried out the experiment and analysed the data. E.H.-W and W.-W assisted the exhaustive swimming test. L.L.-J. and Z.-L. drafted the manuscript. W.-W. revised the manuscript. H.-L. obtained the funding. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82003969), Jilin Provincial Department of Education Science and Technology Project (JJKH20220883KJ), The projects Science and Technology Department of Jilin Province (YDZJ202201ZYTS162), Jilin Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission (2020Q027) and Young Scientist Project of Changchun University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (QNKXJ2-2021 + zr21).