Planta Med. 1993 Aug; 59(4): 323-5.

Linoleate-rich triacylglycerol in Panax pseudo-ginseng improves erythrocyte deformability in vitro.

Hong CY, Lai LJ, Yeh SF.

Institute of Traditional Medicine, National Yang-Ming Medical College, Shih-Pai, Taipei, Taiwan.

With Reid's filtration techniques as a bioassay for evaluating red blood cell (RBC) deformability, we purified from Panax pseudo-ginseng an active component that improved the deformability of calcium-loaded RBC. NMR and mass spectrometric studies showed that the purified substance was a triacylglycerol (TG) with linoleic acid as the major fatty acid residue in the esterified positions of glycerol. The mechanism for this TG to improve RBC deformability could be a modification of membrane fluidity rather than a competitive antagonism with calcium ion.