The current standard treatment regimen for patients with cervical cancer consists of a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. However, the serious side effects often encountered with chemotherapy drugs greatly limits the effective doses that can be delivered, and hence the treatment of cervical cancer still faces strong challenges. In this study, carbon nanodots, nanodrugs with anti-cervical cancer activity and with negligible toxicity, were prepared from the precursor herbal extract ginsenoside Rg1. The surface of the Rg1 carbon nanodots is rich in hydrophilic functional groups, resulting in good dispersion in aqueous media and high biocompatibility. In Vitro experiments show that the Rg1 carbon nanodots have significant cytostatic and pro-apoptotic effects on HeLa cells, and could inhibit their migration and invasion. Experiments in tumor-bearing nude mice show that the Rg1 carbon nanodots could significantly inhibit tumor growth. Through qPCR validation, the Rg1 carbon nanodots were shown to enhance HeLa cell apoptosis, by regulating the expression levels of Cyto c, Caspase-9, Caspase-3, Bax, and Bcl-2, induce G2/M phase arrest by regulating CDK 1 and Cyclin B1 expression, and inhibit tumor cell migration by modulating CDH1 and β-catenin. Since the precursor Rg1 is a natural herbal extract, negligible toxic side effects were observed in nude mice. The work demonstrates that Rg1 carbon nanodots can be expected to become a potential nanomedicine against human cervical cancer with negligible toxic side effects and excellent therapeutic effects.

In this study, we used flow a cytometric assay to evaluate plasma membrane integrity and mitochondrial activity in post-thawed sperm that was supplemented with ginsenoside-Rg1. Varying concentrations of ginsenoside-Rg1 (0, 25, 50 and 100 μM/ml) were used in the extender during cryopreservation to protect the DNA of thawed sperm, thereby increasing the viability and motility rate as evaluated using a computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) method. The results derived from CASA were used to compare the fresh, control, and ginsenoside-Rg1 groups. Sperm motility and the number of progressively motile sperm were significantly (p<0.05) higher in the 50 μM/ml ginsenoside-Rg1 group (61.0±4.65%) than in the control (46.6±7.02%), 25 μM/ml (46.2±4.76%), and 100 μM/ml ginsenoside-Rg1 (52.0± 1.90%) groups. However, the velocity distribution of post-thawed sperm did not differ significantly. Membrane integrity and MMP staining as revealed using flow cytometry were significantly (p<0.05) higher (91.6±0.82%) in the 50 μM/ml ginsenoside-Rg1 group than in the other groups. Here, we report that ginsenoside-Rg1 affects the motility and viability of boar spermatozoa. Moreover, ginsenoside- Rg1 can be used as a protective additive for the suppression of intracellular mitochondrial oxidative stress caused by cryopreservation.