The effect of ginsenoside Rg5, isolated from black ginseng, on heart failure in zebrafish based on untargeted metabolomics

• Main Authors: Junli Liu, Yunhe Liu, Hongqiang Lin, Baisong Zhou, Hui Yu, Le Li, Caixia Wang, Xinyu Li, Pingya Li, Jinping Liu, Xiuhua Hao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-01-01
• Series: Journal of Functional Foods
• Subjects: Ginsenoside Rg5; ACE inhibitor; Zebrafish; Heart failure; Metabolomics
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1756464620305491

Heart failure (HF), with a high fatality rate, is seriously harmful to human health. Ginsenoside Rg5 (Rg5) is the major active component in black ginseng. The effect and mechanism of Rg5 on HF were investigated for the first time. Firstly, the in vitro angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity was evaluated. Then, the verapamil-induced zebrafish HF model was used to assay the effect of Rg5. Finally, the untargeted metabolomics based on UPLC-QTOF-MS was applied to explore the latent mechanism by analyzing the metabolic perturbation. The results showed that Rg5 had a similar ACE-inhibitory activity (IC50 = 0.124 μM) to the reference drug enalapril. Rg5 could dramatically improve cardiac function in a dose-dependent manner. A total of 22 differentiated metabolites and 8 perturbed metabolic pathways were identified. In summary, this study indicated that Rg5 could be a potential agent for protecting heart function in the clinical treatment of heart failure.