Steaming-associated physicochemical changes in Panax ginseng polysaccharides and their protective effects against H₂O₂-induced senescence-like injury.

Authors

Lingyan Zhu, Mingkuan Yang, Jie Chen, Yongbin Xu, Songshan Shi, Xiaona Gan, Tingzhao Li, Bo Li, Shunchun Wang, Huijun Wang

Published in

International journal of biological macromolecules. Pages 155010. Oct 25, 2026. Epub Oct 25, 2026.

Abstract

Steaming converts Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer to red ginseng and alters its bioactivity, but the fraction-specific structural changes in ginseng polysaccharides and their relevance to oxidative senescence remain unclear. Four homogeneous polysaccharides (GPS-01-A, GPS-01-B, RGP-01-A and RGP-01-B) were structurally analyzed and evaluated in H₂O₂-induced injury of H9c2 rat cardiomyoblasts. Steaming altered the polysaccharide fractions differentially. The molecular weights were markedly altered by steaming, decreasing from 92.7 kDa to 82.9 kDa in RGP-01-A, while increasing from 6.9 kDa to 12.8 kDa in RGP-01-B. Steaming increased the relative proportion of AG-II polysaccharides in RGP-01-A compared with GPS-01-A. Steaming elevated the uronic acid content of RGP-01-B and disrupted the triple-helical structure of GPS-01-B. In addition, steaming treatment led to higher DM and lower DA in RGP-01-B. At 100 μg/mL, all polysaccharides improved cell viability and reduced Se-β-Gal positivity and intracellular ROS in cells exposed to 800 μM H₂O₂. Four homogeneous polysaccharides exerted anti-senescence effects by enhancing SOD activity, reducing MDA levels, decreasing the proportion of SA-β-Gal-positive cells, and alleviating H₂O₂-induced cellular apoptosis and nuclear damage. RGP-01-B exhibited superior biological activities to the other polysaccharides in multiple indexes. Treatment effects were associated with increased mRNA expression of Nrf2/HO-1, and decreased p53/p21/p16 mRNA expression. Compared with H₂O₂ treatment alone, RGP-01-B also increased total and nuclear Nrf2 and HO-1 protein levels and decreased p53 protein levels. These results indicate that steaming induces fraction-specific remodeling of ginseng polysaccharides that is associated with enhanced protection against oxidative senescence-like injury. RGP-01-B is a promising anti-aging active component in red ginseng polysaccharides and can be used as a candidate for further development.

PMID:
42927815
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 26 Oct 2026.

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