Ethnopharmacological relevance: Ginsenoside Rb1 (GRb1), an active ingredient of traditional Chinese medicine Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer, has displayed various activities such as antioxidative stress, autophagic regulation and apoptotic inhibition. However, the role of GRb1 in natural aging process remains unclear.

Aim of the study: In this study, we investigated the anti-aging effect and underlying molecular mechanisms of ginsenoside Rb1 in natural aging process.

Materials and methods: We treated the natural aging C57BL/6J mice by intragastrical administration of GRb1 (100 mg/kg·BW) every other day for 10 months and investigated the effect of GRb1 on aging symptoms. By RT-qPCR and WB analysis, we examined the expression levels of senescence-associated biomarkers and aging-related pathways, including cell cycle, apoptosis and inflammation in aging process. Further, metabolomics analysis was conducted to investigate the changes of aging-related metabolites after GRb1 treatment.

Results: Treatment with GRb1 significantly attenuated the aging-induced physiological changes, including slowed reduction of body weight, suppression of hair loss, decrease of arterial wall thickness and heart weight. We found that GRb1 treatment remarkably reversed the changed expression of p53-p21-Cdk2 axis in heart tissues of aging mice, which was responsible for the cell cycle repression. And the activations of apoptosis-associated factors (Bax and Caspase-3) were also inhibited by GRb1 treatment. Further, based on the serum metabolomics analysis using HPLC-MS/MS analysis, several metabolites were identified as potential biomarkers related to the anti-aging effect of GRb1, including glycerophospholipids, carboxylic acids and fatty acyls. Especially, the change of glycerophospholipid metabolism pathway was found to be the mostly changed.

Conclusion: Our studies suggest that GRb1 retards the aging process in mice by regulating cell cycle and apoptotic pathway, which were associated with the alleviation of metabolic disorders.