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World J Clin Cases. Jul 6, 2021; 9(19): 4959-4968
Published online Jul 6, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i19.4959
Clinical potentials of ginseng polysaccharide for treating gestational diabetes mellitus
Xuan-Yin Zhao, Fang Zhang, Wei Pan, Yi-Fang Yang, Xiao-Ya Jiang
Xuan-Yin Zhao, Fang Zhang, Yi-Fang Yang, Xiao-Ya Jiang, First Affiliated Hospital, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang 550002, Guizhou Province, China
Wei Pan, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Guiyang, Guiyang 550002, Guizhou Province, China
Author contributions: Zhao XY designed the review; Zhao XY and Zhang F wrote the manuscript; Pan W and Yang YF helped prepare the figures and revise the manuscript; Jiang XY was mainly responsible for the supervision of the work and the management of the related projects.
Supported by Science and Technology Department of Guizhou Province, No. [2019]9-2-25.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest related to this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiao-Ya Jiang, MD, Doctor, First Affiliated Hospital, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 71 Baoshan North Road, Yunyan District, Guiyang 550002, Guizhou Province, China. 1969441672@qq.com
Received: December 27, 2020
Peer-review started: December 27, 2020
First decision: May 3, 2021
Revised: May 5, 2021
Accepted: May 10, 2021
Article in press: May 10, 2021
Published online: July 6, 2021
Processing time: 179 Days and 3.9 Hours
Abstract

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is the most common glucose metabolism complication or cause of potential impaired glucose tolerance that can occur either before or during pregnancy and lactation. The prevalence of GDM and its related complications in young women is increasing, and this condition may cause serious outcomes and health hazards to the foetus. However, traditional oral hypoglycaemic drugs have potential safety hazards; therefore, it is urgent to develop new, safe, effective, and easily administered agents and remedies. Ginseng polysaccharide (GPS), which is isolated from Panax (P.) ginseng C. A. Meyer, exhibits notably promising biological activities and effects; specifically, it has been shown to lower blood glucose with mild, safe, and nontoxic characteristics, and it can also improve human bodily functions. Hence, we hypothesise that GPS might be used as an additional therapy and candidate agent for treating GDM. This review innovatively summarizes the available reports and evidence from basic studies to analyze the potential for and feasibility of using GPS as a new therapeutic agent for treating GDM. Additionally, for the first time, this review provides a rationale for the use of GPS. Our summarized results show that GPS may be developed as a novel antidiabetic drug and a remedy for use in preventing and treating GDM, with great application prospects.

Keywords: Ginseng polysaccharide; Gestational diabetes mellitus; Biological activities; Anti-diabetes; Review

Core Tip: Ginseng polysaccharide (GPS) notably exhibits promising biological activities and effects, lowers blood glucose with mild, safe, and nontoxic characteristics, and improves human bodily functions. Hence, we hypothesise that GPS might be used as an additional therapy and candidate agent for treating gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). This review summarizes the available reports and evidence from basic studies to analyse the potential for and feasibility of using GPS as a new therapeutic agent for treating GDM and provides additional rationales for the first time. Our summarized results show that GPS may be developed as a novel antidiabetic drug and a remedy used to prevent and treat GDM, with great application prospects.