# Korean Panax Ginseng Reduces Orthodontic Tooth Movement in Rats
###### Abstract  
Ginseng, a herbal plant, is rich in pharmacologically active ginsensoides capable of promoting bone regeneration and of reducing inflammatory osteolysis. Ginseng was therefore proposed to reduce the catabolic changes during periodontitis. Here, we tested the capability of ginseng to modulate orthodontic tooth movement (OTM). To this aim, 55 male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly distributed into five groups: (I) a normal group without any interventions; (II) an untreated OTM serving as a control; and (III, IV, and V) treated OTMs receiving daily oral administrations of 75, 150, and 300 mg/kg of a standardized extract from the roots of Korean Panax ginseng G115 for three weeks, respectively. The molar tooth was moved towards the incisor during three weeks followed by measurements of the distance between the first and the second molars. Moreover, the impact of OTM and ginseng extracts on body weight was determined. Our data showed that, compared with the OTM control, 150 and 300 mg/kg of G115 ginseng extract significantly decreased the OTM from 0.87 mm (min 0.69; max 0.96) to 0.53 (min 0.42, max 0.62; \(p=0.002\)) and 0.36 (min 0.27, max 0.43; \(p<0.0001\)), respectively. Moreover, 150 and 300 mg/kg of G115 significantly lowered the body weights of the rats when compared with the respective controls (\(p=0.002\) and \(p<0.0001\), respectively). These findings suggest that extracts from Panax ginseng are capable of reducing orthodontic tooth movement in rats and is associated with a decrease in body weight.  
ginseng; G115; orthodontic tooth movement; bone remodeling; rats; body weight Article  
Korean Panax Ginseng Reduces Orthotation In Rats  
Reza Tale  
cellular events and the molecular regulation of OTM, including inflammation [10]. In general, a reduction in inflammation reduces OTM.  
A reduction in inflammation and thus a potential reduction in OTM is not exclusively achieved by pharmacological compounds. Natural resources such as plant derivatives are a rich source of bioactive molecules with great pharmacological importance. In traditional Asian medicine, the roots of Panax ginseng have received much attention over the centuries [11; 12]. Today, we know that ginseng has a large number of bioactive molecules commonly known as ginseng [13] that may be responsible for the therapeutic effects but not limited to weight loss [14] and combating cardiovascular diseases [15], diabetes mellitus [16], neurological diseases, and inflammatory bowel disease [17]. Ginseng exerts its beneficial effects by reducing inflammation [18] through the activation of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)-heme oxygenase 1 (HO1) signaling [19; 20]. In this context, activating Nrf2-HO1 signaling attenuated OTM in mice [21]. In vitro, Nrf2 and HO1 activation inhibited osteoclastogenesis [22; 23].  
Standardized extracts of Korean Panax ginseng (G115) were introduced already in the 1980s [24] to overcome the high variability in their composition and to improve the overall quality of ginseng products on the market [25]. In an experimental setting, it is important to use pure and standardized ginseng extracts such as G115 to allow for the research to be reproducible and to guarantee the effectiveness and safe use of the extract. G115 is a good example of a herbal drug prepared with safety and efficacy in mind power when producing the herbal medicinal products. Clinical trials and 50 years of presence on the market support the safety profile of G115 [25]. Furthermore, G115 was widely used in rat preclinical research [24; 26; 27] and is therefore ideal for preclinical testing in an OTM model. Taking advantage of this model, we investigated the impact of Korean Panax ginseng on OTM.