Abstract: Objective To investigate the protective effects of ginseng total saponin on brain tissue injury following ischemiareperfusion in rats with brain ischemia-reperfusion. Methods40 adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: the control, the sham, the ischemic, the ginseng total saponintreated 1, and the ginseng total saponin-treated 2 groups. The rats received either ginseng total saponin (50mg/kg of body weight.) or saline i.p. just before the beginning of reperfusion and the brains were removed after 48h, and the ginseng total saponintreated 2 group was subjected to ginseng total saponin for 3 days and their brains were removed after 72?h. The brain tissues were observed by Nissle staining and TUNEL staining, and the data were calculated by using the image analysis system. ResultsIn the ischemic group, the number of neurocyte cells obviously decreased. TUNELpositive cells were not found in the normal rats but were found in the brain tissues of the sham and the ginseng total saponintreated groups. However, TUNEL-positive cells were found in the ischemic group. Deep brown staining was found in the nuclei of hippocampal and cortical neurons. Ginseng total saponin resulted in significantly fewer TUNELpositive cells in the neurons compared with the ischemic group (P<0.01). Both the and 2 groups had higher neuronal function values than the ischemic reperfusion nontreatment group (P<0.01), and the ginseng total saponin-treated 2 group was superior to the 1 group (P<0.05). ConclusionsGinseng total saponin may restrain the apoptosis of hippocampal neurons and increases the neuronal function value of focal cerebral ischemicreperfusion rats, and well protects the neurons from ischemiainduced apoptosis.

Key words: Reperfusion injury, Apoptosis, Ginseng total saponin