Yudie Wang¹ , Haomin Chen²

1 Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Center, Cuixi Academy of Biotechnology, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China
2 Tropical Medicinal Plant Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China
Author    Correspondence author
Medicinal Plant Research, 2025, Vol. 15, No. 3   doi: 10.5376/mpr.2025.15.0014
Received: 15 Apr., 2025    Accepted: 30 May, 2025    Published: 20 Jun., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Wang Y.D., and Chen H.M., 2025, Pharmacological mechanisms of ginsenosides in anti-inflammatory activity, Medicinal Plant Research, 15(3): 129-141(doi: 10.5376/mpr.2025.15.0014)

 

This study explored the anti-inflammatory mechanism of ginsenosides, revealed their mode of action in regulating inflammatory responses through multiple signaling pathways. Studies have shown that, ginsenosides can effectively down-regulate the expression of inflammatory factors such as TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6, as well as inflammatory mediators, such as iNOS and COX-2, by inhibiting the NF-κB, MAPK, JAK-STAT, and PI3K/Akt pathways, and simultaneously activating the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway. In terms of immune regulation, ginsenosides promote the polarization of macrophages and microglia towards M2 type, and maintain the Treg/Th17 balance, achieving a dual effect of inhibiting inflammation and promoting regression. Cell and animal experiments have confirmed that saponins, like Rb1, Rg1, Rg3, and Rh2, have all demonstrated excellent therapeutic effects in models of colitis, acute lung injury, and neuroinflammation. Preliminary studies on clinical and functional foods have also shown their potential in chronic inflammatory diseases. Future research should focus on dose optimization, formulation improvement and clinical transformation to promote its application in the treatment of inflammatory diseases.

Ginsenosides; Anti-inflammatory mechanism; Signal pathway; Immune regulation; Clinical application