Ginseng Is Useful to Enhance Cardiac Contractility in Animals

Abstract

Ginseng has been shown to be effective on cardiac dysfunction. Recent evidence has highlighted the mediation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) in cardiac function. Thus, we are interested to investigate the role of PPARδin ginseng-induced modification of cardiac contractility. The isolated hearts in Langendorff apparatus and hemodynamic analysis in catheterized rats were applied to measure the actions of ginsengex vivoandin vivo. In normal rats, ginseng enhanced cardiac contractility and hemodynamicdP/dtmaxsignificantly. Both actions were diminished by GSK0660 at a dose enough to block PPARδ. However, ginseng failed to modify heart rate at the same dose, although it did produce a mild increase in blood pressure. Data of intracellular calcium level and Western blotting analysis showed that both the PPARδexpression and troponin I phosphorylation were raised by ginseng in neonatal rat cardiomyocyte. Thus, we suggest that ginseng could enhance cardiac contractility through increased PPARδexpression in cardiac cells.