Abstract: Objective: To investigate the effect of black ginseng polysaccharides (BGP) on alleviating physical fatigue in mice and to explain the underlying mechanism. Methods: A mouse model of muscle fatigue was established by weight-bearing swimming and the mice were orally administered simultaneously with BGP at 50, 100 or 200 mg/(kg mb·d) for 28 days. Exhaustive swimming time was recorded. Then, the levels of blood lactic acid (BLA), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) as well as the contents of glycogen and malondialdehyde (MDA) and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in liver were measured. The expression of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) was evaluated by using Western blot; the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) and atherosclerosis peroxisome proliferator activated receptory α (PPARα) in skeletal muscle was analyzed by reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: Compared with the weight-bearing swimming control group, BGP significantly prolonged exhaustive swimming time (P < 0.05), and it significantly decreased the levels of BLA, BUN and IL-6 and MDA content in liver (P < 0.05), improved the activities of SOD and GSH-Px and the content of glycogen (P < 0.05), inhibited the expression of IL-1β and TNF-α, and increased the expression levels of PGC-1α and PPARα compared with the non-weight-bearing swimming control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: BGP have good anti-fatigue effect by regulating the expression of PGC-1α and PPARα genes in skeletal muscle and inhibiting inflammatory reaction in liver.

Key words: black ginseng polysaccharides, anti-fatigue effect, oxidative stress, inflammatory factors, gene expression