Studies on the Biochemical Nature of the Protein Constituents of Panax Ginseng Root

인삼(人蔘) 단백성분의 생화학적성질(生化學的性質)에 관한 연구

The biochemical nature of the protein constituents of six year old fresh Panax ginseng root was studied. Total protein constituents were extracted with phosphate buffer of pH 7.4, ionic strength of 0.1 and fractionated by ultrafiltration using four different membranes which cut down the materials of molecular weight of 500, 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000, respectively. Each fraction was subjected to ion exchange chromatography using DEAE - cellulose to isolate component proteins. The protein fraction larger than molecular weight of 10,000 was refractionated by the method of ammonium sulfate precipitation. The electrophoresis of the refractionated protein constituents was performed. The amino acid composition of the protein constituents was determined by gas- liquid chromatography. From the results, it could be summarized that eleven different protein constituents smaller than molecular weight of 10,000 were isolated from the fresh Panax ginseng root. At least eleven different protein constituents larger than molecular weight of 10,000 were identified from the electrophoretic patterns. These protein costituents seem to be compounded of all or some of five different subunits.