Nicole L.

Loughry

Annotated Bibliography-The Effects of

Ginseng on Lumbriculus variegatus
The Cancer-Preventive Potential of Panax ginseng: A
Review of Human and Experimental Evidence
Panax ginseng has many effects on healing and on the human body. One of
the most common is that it has a restoring effect on a person’s strength. Studies
also suggest that ginseng may be used as a preventative against some types of
cancers. The ginseng available commercially is white and red ginseng and the main
ingredient or active ingredient that yields results is ginsenosides. There have been
thirty-four ginsenosides separated out of white or red ginseng. In some studies, it
was revealed that there is a dose-response relationship which means that the longer
the ginseng is taken, the more of an effect it will have on the body. Most of the
cancer research for different parts of the body showed that ginseng would decrease
the odds of getting cancer. However, breasts, uterine cervix, urinary bladder, and
the thyroid gland cancer research did not reveal any significant results.

Most of this information will not be useful because it does point out that
ginseng is used to help prevent some types of cancer. In our experiment we used
ginseng to see what effects it would have on the pulsation rates of the Lumbriculus
variegates. Knowing that there is a dose-response relationship for ginseng is useful
because it will demonstrate how the length of the dose will affect the body with
stronger results. It also shows that the major active ingredient is ginsenosides.
Researching this ingredient will help us to understand what kind of ingredient we
are dealing with and how it affects the body.

Hai Rim Shin, Joon Youn Kim, Taik Koo Yun, Gareth Morgan and Harri Vainio
Cancer Causes & Control, Vol. 11, No. 6 (Jul., 2000), pp. 565-576
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3553787

Panax Ginseng
Panax ginseng is used as an antioxidant and anticancer treatment. Other
reports show that it may have a positive effect on psychological and immune
functions as well as with the symptoms or suffering dealing with diabetes. These
studies also show that Panax ginseng has nothing to do with a person’s physical
performance. Ginseng is referred to as an adaptogen or more recently has been
referred to as a tonic. Adaptogens help to enhance the amount of resistance
someone has to stress. Ginseng also has several side effects that include nausea,
diarrhea, headaches, and insomnia. The recommended dose is 200 mg/day or the
 Nicole L. Loughry

capsule formula dose is 100-600mg/day; however, people should not take ginseng
everyday for weeks at a time. There should be a two week break period every three
weeks for a patient or who is consecutively taking the medication.

This article is of some help since it discusses how ginseng has no apparent
effect on a person’s physical performance. This research story talks about how
ginseng is an adaptogen which I found out is something that helps a person to
adjust to different stress levels. On the other hand, it shows that ginseng has
several side effects. Some of them are nausea, diarrhea, insomnia, headaches,
hypertension and hypotension, and several others. Knowing the side effects in a
human’s body may help us to determine what it may do to the Lumbriculus
variegates.

Panax ginseng. By: Kiefer, David, Pantuso, Traci, American Family Physician, 0002838X, 10/15/2003, Vol. 68,
Issue 8

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=2&hid=106&sid=532d81ee-d901-4a31-ace1-
57bb49773a37%40sessionmgr109

“Behavior, Growth, and Reproduction of Lumbriculus

Variegatus (Oliogochaetae) in Different Sediment Types”
Lumbriculus variegates is a freshwater oligochaete that is found in North America and Europe. It is
one of the most popular species to do toxicity tests on. This species does not ever reach a state to reproduce.
New worms are produced by regeneration from body parts that were formed from a segment. These worms
were tested in a mimicked habitat from their natural habitat to see what types of materials yielded better
regeneration and also better movement. The finer sediments yielded better results.

This article will prove of some use in our experiment with American ginseng. We will be performing a
locomotion experiment to see how the ginseng affects the movement of the worms. Ginseng is a finely ground
powder like substance that should work well for this laboratory test. We are going to perform a second
experiment demonstrating whether or not the worms will go to the solutions of ginseng or not.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=115&sid=e5558244-2488-4619-
8667-38244fc65067%40sessionmgr103

Sardo, Soares, Gerhardt. “Behavior, Growth, and Reproduction of Lumbriculus

Variegatus (Oliogochaetae) in Different Sediment Types”. Human and Ecological
Risk Assessment, 13: 519-526, 2007.