Ginseng induced gross malformations in albino mice in vivo

It is generally believed that herbal medicines are safer to use during pregnancy than the conventional. Herbal therapies have been recently reported to be associated with toxic effects in vitro, including teratogenic. There is paucity of evidence regarding effects of Geinseng on developing concepts in experimental animals. The present work was, therefore, designed using albino mice; these were given Panax ginseng root powder throughout pregnancy, the dams were sacrificed on 18th day of gestation and foetuses were delivered. Gross malformations were evident in the treated groups and were found to be statistically significant [P< 0.05] and dose dependent, being more pronounced in the high dose treated group as compared to the low dose treated or the control group. Previous studies have shown that different monomers of gin senosides have teratogenic effects in vitro; we adjoin by concluding that ginsenosides present in the commercially available Ginseng products have teratogenic effects in vivo as well