The Effect of Ginseng Intake on the Frequency of Sister Chromatid Exchanges of Human Lymphocyte of Adult Smokers

인삼의 섭취가 흡연성인의 인체임파구 SCE 빈도수에 미치는 영향

This study was intended to investigate the anticarcinogenic effect of ginseng previously elucidated by other researches in animal studies. The sister chromatid exchange(SCE) method of human lymphocytes was used as a biomarker. Based on the literature search and the results of our laboratory, smoking was used as a parameter elevating the SCE frequency of general human population. To evaluate the smoking and ginseng effect on SCE frequency, 98 male healthy factory workers aged 23 to 58 years were divided into 4 groups : smoker with ginseng (SG), smoker control(SC), non-smoker with ginseng(NSG), and non-smoker control(NSC) groups, according to their smoking habits and ginseng intake. The mean sponteneous SCE per cell for the SG(10.8$\pm$0.3) and SC(10.4$\pm$0.3) groups were significantly higher than the NSG(9.1$\pm$0.2) and NSC(9.3$\pm$0.3) groups(p<0.05). High frequency cells (HFCs, cells with 15 SCEs) in SG and SC groups were also greater than those in NSG and NSC groups. However, the SCE levels of the SG and SC groups were not associated with the personal smoking history and the number of cigaretts smoked per day. Ginseng intake did not show any effect on the increased SCE caused by smoking. There were no correlations of the elevated SCE among smoking and ginseng types, history of ginseng intake, and consumption frequencies of ginseng intake. These results does not support the findings of other researchers that ginseng could be a protective agent to DNA damage.