GINSENG

Many botanical compounds contain active pharmacological ingredients that have long been used to treat diverse diseases, and such natural compounds have added considerable value to the development of modern pharmaceutics. Natural products have a distinctive diversity of multidimensional chemical structures, and currently, more than 60% of modern drugs in use have their origin in natural compounds.
Ginseng, the roots of Panax ginseng, P. notoginseng, and P. quinquefolius, has been widely used as a remedy for a number of diseases and is currently being studied for its efficacy in a scientific way. Ginseng contains ginsenosides, gintonin, polysaccharides, peptides, phytosterols, polyacetylenes, polyacetylenic alcohols, fatty acids, etc., and among the active ingredients of ginseng, ginsenoside, which constitutes 2%–3% of ginseng, is the major pharmacological component. About 40 ginsenosides have been identified, and they are generally divided into protopanaxadiols and protopanaxatriols based on their chemical structures. Each ginsenoside exerts unique pharmacological activity in various diseases, and some ginsenosides such as ginsenoside Rb1, Rb2, Rc, and Rg3 have gone through clinical trials with human participants to test their antidiabetic and anticancer activities.

Even in the ophthalmological field, the saponins of Ginseng, the root of Panax, inhibit oxidative stress which interacts with the mitochondria, favoring apoptosis which leads to cellular damage. The action of Ginseng is therefore expressed as an inhibitor of neurotoxicity resulting from exposure to various inflammatory substances and conditions. The retinal blood flow is benefited as well as the capillary permeability which in fact constitute the ocular nourishment, with a benefit found in the presence of glaucoma, while the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant action is also expressed in macular degeneration.
Chinese herbal medicine, such as Fufang Xueshuantong and the compound danshen dripping pill (CDDP), contains P. notoginseng and has been shown to possess protective effects against Diabetic Retinopathy. In a randomized double-blind study Dr. Jian of the Academy of Natural Chinese Medicine in Bejing, China combined the main constituents of Fufang Xueshuantong (cFXT), which included saponins of P. notoginseng (NR1, ginsenoside Rg1, ginsenoside Rb1, and other saponins), harpagoside, cryptotanshinone, tanshinone I, and astragaloside A, and found that cFXT treatment relieved retinal lesions, while another double-blind randomized Chinese clinical trial confirmed the safety and effectiveness of the herbal compound which also contains Ginseng in controlling blood sugar in diabetic retinopathy.
The antioxidant power of Ginseng makes it a valid adjuvant in counteracting floaters of the vitreous body.

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