Protective Effects and Therapeutics of Ginsenosides for Improving Endothelial Dysfunction: From Therapeutic Potentials, Pharmaceutical Developments to Clinical Trials

The endothelium covers the internal lumen of the entire circulatory system and plays an important modulatory role in vascular homeostasis. Endothelium dysfunction, characterized by a vasoconstrictive, pro-inflammatory, and pro-coagulant state, usually manifests as a significant pathological process of vascular diseases, including hypertension, atherosclerosis (AS), stroke, diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, and cancer. Therefore, there is an urgent necessity to seek promising therapeutic drugs or remedies to ameliorate endothelial dysfunction-induced vascular ailments and complications. Recently, much attention has been attached to ginsenosides, the most significant active components of ginseng, which have always been referred to as “all-healing” and widely used for its extensively medicinal value. Surprisingly, ginsenosides have diverse biological activity which might be related to inflammation, apoptosis, oxidative stress, and angiogenesis. In this review, a brief introduction about endothelial dysfunction and ginsenosides was demonstrated, and the emphasis was put on summarizing multi-faceted pharmacological effects and underlying molecular mechanisms of ginsenosides on the endothelium, including vasorelaxation, anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation, and angio-modulation. Beyond that, nanotechnology to improve efficacy and the existing clinical trials of ginsenosides were concluded. Hopefully, our work will give suggestions for promoting clinical application of traditional Chinese medicine, e.g., hypertension, AS, diabetes, ischemic stroke, and cancer. This review provides a comprehensive base of knowledge for ginsenosides to prevention and treatment of vascular injury- related diseases with clinical significance.