The impact of ginsenosides on cognitive deficits in experimental animal studies of Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review.
Chenxia Sheng, Weijun Peng, Zi-An Xia, Yang Wang, Zeqi Chen, Nanxiang Su, Zhe Wang
Author Information
Chenxia Sheng: Department of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, No.139 Middle Renmin Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, PR China.
Weijun Peng: Department of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, No.139 Middle Renmin Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, PR China.
Zi-An Xia: Institute of Integrative Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, PR China.
Yang Wang: Institute of Integrative Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, PR China.
Zeqi Chen: Institute of Integrative Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, PR China.
Nanxiang Su: Department of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, No.139 Middle Renmin Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, PR China.
Zhe Wang: Department of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, No.139 Middle Renmin Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, PR China. ericwangzhe@126.com.
BACKGROUND: The efficacy of ginsenoside treatment on cognitive decline in individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) has yet to be investigated. In this protocal, we conducted a systematic review to evaluate the effect of ginsenosides on cognitive deficits in experimental rodent AD models. METHODS: We identified eligible studies by searching seven electronic databases spanning from January 1980 to October 2014. We assessed the study quality, evaluated the efficacy of ginsenoside treatment, and performed a stratified meta-analysis and meta-regression analysis to assess the influence of the study design on ginsenoside efficacy. RESULTS: Twelve studies fulfilled our inclusion criteria from a total of 283 publications. The overall methodological quality of these studies was poor. The meta-analysis revealed that ginsenosides have a statistically significant positive effect on cognitive performance in experimental AD models. The stratified analysis revealed that ginsenoside Rg1 had the greatest effect on acquisition and retention memory in AD models. The effect size was significantly higher for both acquisition and retention memory in studies that used female animals compared with male animals. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that ginsenosides might reduce cognitive deficits in AD models. However, additional well-designed and well-reported animal studies are needed to inform further clinical investigations.
