Many patients worldwide are going to receive major abdomen surgery or intestine transplantation every year and expect to be afflicted with liver injury afterwards. The finding of a research group headed by Professor Han Jing-Yan in China and reported in January 7, 2008 of the World Journal of Gastroenterology (volume 14, issue 1) may prove good news for them.The study by Han Jing-Yan et al discovered Ginsenosaide Rb1 (R1) is able to prevent hepatic microcirculatory disturbance and subsequent liver injury in mice induced by intestine ischemia and reperfusion (I/R). R1 is one of the major effective ingredients of Panax notoginseng (PN), a traditional Chinese herb medicine frequently included in various compound Chinese medicines for treatment of liver injury and numerous other diseases in China and other Asian countries.
