Effects of Panax Ginseng root on acquisition of sound discrimination behaviour in rats.

Pole-climbing and shuttle-avoidance tests were employed to study the acquisition of conditioned avoidance response (CAR) and discrimination behaviour (DB) in male Wistar rats which had been given extracts from Panax Ginseng root intraperitoneally or orally. Neither a lipid soluble fraction (GNo. 5) nor a ginsenoside Rg fraction (GRg) produced significant changes in the acquisition of CAR. GRg given intraperitoneally produced a significant acceleration in the acquisition of DB between a 500 Hz signal sound followed by an electric shock (SD) and a 1000 Hz signal sound without a shock (S delta) in rats which had learned to avoid the shock following SD at a rate of over 95%. Small doses of GNo. 5 produced a significant depression in the acquisition of DB.