J Altern Complement Med. 2002 Aug; 8(4): 459-66.

Gerimax ginseng regulates both humoral and cellular immunity during chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infection.

Song Z, Wu H, Mathee K, HÃ¸iby N, Kharazmi A.

Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA. zhijunsong@yahoo.com

BACKGROUND: Chronic lung infection among patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), diffused panbronchiolitis, and chronic obstructive bronchiecteisis is often because of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. High morbidity and mortality in patients with CF are because of P. aeuruginosa that undergoes genotypic and phenotypic changes during prolonged stay in the lung resulting in increased antibiotic resistance, necessitating a search for alternative or supplement drugs. OBJECTIVE: In this study we compared the therapeutical effect of Gerimax (Dansk Droge A/S, IshÃ¸j, Denmark) ginseng with placebo control by using a rat model of chronic P. aeruginosa lung infection mimicking that in patients with CF. METHODS AND INTERVENTIONS: The animals were challenged intratracheally with the prototypic P. aeruginosa PAO1 in alginate beads (1 x 10(9) colony-forming units per milliliter [CFU/mL]) followed by subcutaneous injection of ginseng extract (150 mg/kg body weight once per day) and examined on days 7 and 21. RESULTS: The day 7 analyses show that ginseng treatment resulted in lowering serum immunoglobulin M (IgM) and lung interleukin-4 (IL-4) levels compared to the control group. On day 21, higher lung IgA, upregulated serum IgG2a, stronger lung responses of interferon-gamma, IL-4, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha with milder lung pathology and enhanced lung bacteriology were detected in the ginseng-treated group when compared to those of the control group. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the Gerimax ginseng treatment can modulate the immune system in favor of clearing the infection with P. aeruginosa in the lungs of rats. Thus, ginseng might be a promising alternative supplement for the treatment of chronic P. aeruginosa lung infection in patients with CF.