Ginsenoside Rg1 and astaxanthin act on the hypothalamus to protect female mice against reproductive aging

To the Editor:Female infertility due to reproductive aging has become a prominent concern in the population.Evidence indicates that oxidative stress is one of the dominant mechanisms underlying reproductive aging.[1,2]Although female reproductive aging involves gradual changes to the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian(HPO)axis,previous studies support a key involvement of the hypothalamus.[3,4]In our recent dataset,it was shown that estrogen-induced oxidative stress led to the senescence of hypothalamic astrocytes that predated reproductive dysfunction.[3]Growing evidence has demonstrated that antioxidants might delay reproductive aging by reducing oxidative damage to ovaries.[1,2]However,the effect of antioxidants on the hypothalamus has not been reported.Astaxanthin(AST),3,3'-dihydroxy-β-carotene-4,4'-dione,is a xanthophyll carotenoid found predominantly in marine animals such as salmon,trout,lobster,and shrimp.Ginseng is a tonic drug in traditional Chinese medicine.Ginsenoside Rg1,a class of steroidal glycosides,is a prominent active anti-aging ingredient within ginseng responsible for these effects.Notably,the two antioxidants freely cross the blood-brain barrier.In this study,we evaluated the effects of these two natural compounds on the hypothalamus and ovaries in protecting female mice from reproductive aging.