Ginseng can regulate the balance of central nervous system excitatory process and inhibitory process. Through the research on the effect of ginseng on the brain electrical activity of animals, the results show that it has effects on both exciting and inhibiting neural processes, but mainly strengthens the exciting process of the cerebral cortex. Because it acts on the inhibitory process at the same time, the inhibition tends to be concentrated, and the differentiation is accelerated and more complete. Ginseng can regulate nerve function and restore nerve processes that have been disrupted by tension. Ginsenosides Rb have a central sedative effect, Rb1, Rb2, and Rc mixed saponins have a stabilizing effect; Rg have a central excitatory effect. The effect of ginsenosides on the central nervous system is excitatory in small doses and inhibited in large doses. Ginseng water extract 5g/kg intraperitoneal injection can significantly reduce the spontaneous activity of mice. Ginseng water infusion can also resist convulsions caused by cocaine, strychnine and pentylenetetrazol, and can reduce the mortality rate of convulsions. It has been reported that the crude neutral saponins of ginseng have not only sedative and stable effects, but also analgesic, muscle relaxant and cooling effects.
The effects of ginseng on learning and memory are bidirectional and component-dependent. Oral administration of 20 mg/kg ginseng extract to rats for 3 consecutive days facilitated 30-minute learning acquisition and 24-hour memory retention in the Y-maze test in rats, but when the dose was increased to 100 mg/kg, learning and memory not only did not improve, On the contrary, some learning and memory indicators are damaged. Ginseng extract prevents stress-induced decline in learning ability in mice. It has been reported that ginseng extract can antagonize the poor memory acquisition caused by anisodine and pentobarbital sodium, and can also improve the memory consolidation disorder caused by cycloheximide and sodium nitrite and the memory caused by 40% ethanol. reproduce the defect. Intraperitoneal injection of 200mg/kg, 100mg/kg, 50mg/kg of ginseng stem and leaf saponins to mice can obviously resist the effect of anisodine and improve the memory of mice, increase the RNA in the brain, but have no effect on the content of DNA and protein. obvious impact.
Human experiments have proved that ginseng can improve working ability and reduce fatigue, and it is believed that this is the result of its exciting center. Its action strength exceeds that of amphetamine, but it does not have the disadvantages of amphetamine. Taking ginseng can improve thinking ability and labor efficiency. Animal experiments show that ginseng can significantly prolong the swimming duration of mice. First use various methods to make mice physically exhausted, and then give ginseng, which proves that ginseng can significantly accelerate the recovery of their physical strength and increase their exercise capacity. Ginseng can reduce the fatigue of the exciting process, showing that the flexibility of the nervous exciting process is strengthened, and the degree of nervous fatigue is reduced, thereby eliminating various weakness syndromes and showing anti-fatigue effects. There are also reports that the mechanism of ginseng's anti-fatigue effect may be related to its elevation of blood lipids and promotion of protein and RNA synthesis. Studies have shown that ginsenoside Rg1 has a significant anti-fatigue effect, and neutral saponins (Rb1, Rb2, Rc, etc.) have no anti-fatigue effect. The lipophilic components left after the isolation of ginsenosides can also increase the spontaneous movement of mice and show anti-fatigue effects. Ginseng can make the utilization of glycogen and high-energy phosphate more economical, prevent the accumulation of lactic acid and pyruvate, and make its metabolism more complete. Ginseng can also prevent the depletion of glycogen in tissues and cholesterol in adrenal glands caused by long-term exercise in rats.
Studies have shown that ginseng has central cholinergic activity and catecholaminergic activity, which can enhance the function of the choline system, increase the synthesis and release of Ach, and increase the density of central M-choline receptors.
Experiments have shown that ginseng can promote protein synthesis, RNA synthesis and DNA synthesis. The memory-facilitating effect of ginseng may be mainly related to the synthesis of nucleic acid and protein in the brain. Rg1 can significantly increase the protein content in the brain, but Rb1 has no such effect. It has been reported that ginseng stem and leaf saponins can significantly increase the RNA content in the brain of mice. Ginseng stem and leaf saponins, diol group saponins and triol group saponins have no significant changes in the normal level of γ-aminobutyric acid in the brain of mice, but have a significant effect on the reduction of the level of γ-aminobutyric acid in the brain caused by isoniazid. Obvious antagonism.
Ginseng also has significant effects on cerebral blood flow and brain energy metabolism. Ginseng preparation can increase the uptake of glucose in the rabbit brain, while reducing the ratio of lactic acid, pyruvic acid and lactic acid/pyruvic acid, and can change the utilization of glucose from anaerobic metabolism to aerobic metabolism. Ginseng can also increase the free inorganic phosphorus in the cerebral cortex by 25%. Ginseng fruit saponins can improve brain oxygen uptake capacity. Ginseng total saponins and ginseng root saponins have protective effects on cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. In short, ginseng can make animal brains use energy substance glucose more reasonably, oxidize energy production capacity, and synthesize more ATP for activities such as learning and memory.