• Proceedings of the Korea Environmental Mutagen Society Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.146-146
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• 2003

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.417-420
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• 2005

Plants generally produce secondary metabolites in nature as a defense mechanism against pathogenic and insect attack. In this study, we applied several abiotic elicitors in order to enhance growth and ginseng saponin biosynthesis in the hairy roots of P. ginseng. Generally, elicitor treatments were found to inhibit the growth of the hairy roots, although simultaneously enhancing ginseng saponin biosynthesis. The addition of selenium at inoculum time did not significantly affect ginseng saponin biosynthesis. However, when 0.5 mM selenium was added as an elicitor after 21 days of culture, ginseng saponin content and productivity increased to about 1.31 and 1.33 times control levels, respectively. These results suggest that processing time for the generation of ginseng saponin in a hairy root culture can be reduced via the application of an elicitor.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.146-146
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• 2003

20-O-(${\beta}$-D-Glucopyranosyl)-20(S)-protopanaxadiol (IH901), an intestinal bacterial metabolite of ginseng saponins formed from ginsenosides Rb1, Rb2 and Rc, is suggested to be a potential chemopreventive agent. Here we show that IH901 induces apoptosis in human hepatoblastoma HepG2 cells.(omitted)

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.139-140
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• 2001

Ginseng saponins (ginsenosides) have been regarded as principal components responsible for the majority of pharmacological activities exerted by ginseng. IH-901, an intestinal bacterial metabolite derived from the protopanaxadiol saponin of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer, has been reported to have anti-tumor effects including inhibition of angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis, as well as induction of tumor cell apoptosis. (omitted)

• The Journal of Traditional Korean Medicine
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.97-105
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• 2006

To study on antioxidant effects in the liver of 40-week-old mouse, the sample were orally pretreated 5mg/kg/day for 5 days with red ginseng saponin components(total saponin, protopanaxadiol saponin, protopanaxatriol saponin, ginsenoside-Rd, ginsenoside-Re, compound-K) for 5 days. The ability of saponin to protect the mouse liver from oxidative damage was examined by determining the activity of superoxide dismutase(SOD), glutathione peroxidase(GPx) and the contents of glutathione, the level of malondialdehyde, The only protopanaxadiol among the ginseng saponin fractions was significantly increased the hepatic SOD activity(p<0.01). The red ginseng saponin induced a slight increase of GPx activity, especially ginsenoside Rd, compound K and protopanaxatriol treatments significantly increased its activity. The content of glutathione was significantly increased by total saponin, protopanaxadiol and ginsenoside Rd(p<0.01), but the oxidized glutathione level was lowered in all the red ginseng saponin. Finally, the level of malondialdehyde was significantly decreased by ginsenoside Rd and protopanaxadiol. In conclusion, protopanaxadiol and ginsenoside Rd among the saponin fraction were especially increased in the activity of hepatic antioxidative enzyme and decreased the lipid peroxidation that was expressed in term of MDA formation. This comprehensive antioxidant effects of red ginseng saponin seems to be by a certain action of saponin other than a direct antioxidant action.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.73-77
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• 2005

Plant-derived natural products have been and will continue to be valuable sources. Elicitors have been employed to modify cell metabolism in order to enhance the productivity of useful metabolites in plant cell/tissue cultures. In this study, several elicitors were used to improve the productivity of useful metabolites and to reduce culture time for archiving high concentration in P. ginseng hairy root cultures. The addition of chitosan, chitosan oligosaccharide and alginate oligosaccharide to the culture of P. ginseng hairy roots caused growth to be inhibited with the increase in elicitor concentration. The usage of the chitosan elicitor and D-glucosamine caused a slight decrease in hairy root growth, whereas total ginseng saponin accumulated slightly with the increase in elicitor concentration. When gel beads were added to the culture medium at the initial period, hairy root growth was enhanced. The maximum growth was 1.35 times higher than that of the control at $1\%$ (w/v). Total ginseng saponin content decreased due to the addition of alginate beads. This would result in consistent diffusion of lower levels of calcium ions during the culture period that promotes biomass growth.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.75-75
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• 2003

We report upon the cytotoxic activity of the ginseng saponin metabolite, Compound K (20-O-D-glucopyranosyl-20(S)-protopanaxadiol, IH90l) on various human leukemia cell lines. Compound K had most effect on U937, a human monocytic leukemia cell line, which on treatment showed; a exposure of phosphatidylserine from the inner cell membrane to the outer cell membrane, the formation of apoptotic bodies and DNA fragmentation, - characteristics of apoptosis. Compound K induced apoptosis by up-regulating Bax, disrupting the mitochondria membrane potential, and by activating caspase 9 and caspase 3. Therefore, we suggest that Compound K inhibit U937 cell growth by inducing apoptosis through the up-regulation of Bax and caspase activation.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.8-8
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• 2012

Ginseng have been traditionally used for strengthening immunity, providing nutrition and recovering health from fatigue. Recently, pharmaceutical activities of ginseng roots have been proven by many researches, and ginseng has become a world-famous medicinal plant. Ginseng saponin, ginsenoside, is one of the most important secondary metabolite in ginseng which has various pharmacological activities. Many studies have aimed to convert major ginsenosides to the more active minor ginsenoside Rg3 for consumer demand ginseng product. Microbial strain GS514 strain was isolated from soil around ginseng roots for enzymatic preparation of ginsenoside Rg3, which strain shows strong ability of converting ginsenoside Rb1and Rd into Rg3 in the solution with NaCl. The gene encoding a ${\beta}$-glucosidase from this GS514 was cloned and expressed in the BL21 (DE3) strain of Escherichia coli. The recombinant enzyme was purified and characterized. The molecular mass of purified was 87.5 kDa, as determined by SDS-PAGE. The gene sequence revealed significant homology to the family 3 glycoside hydrolases. The purified single enzyme also catalyzed the conversion of ginsenoside Rb1 into Rg3. This target enzyme will be able to produce as much saponin for consumer demand ginseng product. Anti-apoptotic proteins bind with pro-apoptotic proteins to induce apoptosis mechanism. Over expression of these anti-apoptotic proteins lead to several cancers by preventing apoptosis. Docking simulations were performed for anti-apoptotic proteins with several ginsenosides from Panax ginseng. Our finding shows ginsenosides particularly Rg3, Rh2 and Rf have more binding affinity with apoptotic proteins. Further, these docking system of each ginsenosides can be extended to experimental screen system for further brief confirmations of several diseases.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.402-406
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• 2004

This research team found in previous studies, that the ginseng saponin metabolite IH901 induces apoptosis in HepG2 cells via a mitochondrial-mediated pathway, which resulted in the activation of caspase-9 and subsequently of caspase-3 and -8. Based on these results, the involvement of the Fas/Fas ligand (FasL) death-receptor pathway, in IH901-induced apoptosis in HepG2 cells, was investigated. Levels of Fas and the Fas ligand (FasL) mRNA or protein were not increased by IH901, rather they were decreased significantly at 18 h post treatment. Soluble FasL (sFasL) was detectable by immunoprecipitation analysis En the medium of HepG2 cells treated with IH901. Increased levels of sFasL were inversely correlated with the levels of FasL. Preincubation of HepG2 cells with antagonistic anti-Fas antibody showed little protective effect, if any, on IH901-induced cell death. At a $30{\mu}M$ (24 and 48 h) and $40{\mu}M$ (24 h) concentration of IH901, the cytotoxic effect of IH901 was less then $50\%$, anti-Fas antibody prevented IH901-induced cell death. However, at a $60{\mu}M$ (24 and 48 h) and $40{\mu}M$ (48 h) concentration of IH901, cell death rates were about $80\%$ or more and most of the chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic effects of IH901 were manifested. Blocking the Fas receptor did not influence IH901-induced cell death. These results indicate that the Fas/FasL system is engaged, but not required for IH901-induced cell death, at pharmacologically significant concentrations.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.316-321
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• 1994

This study was undertaken to estimate whether nalbuphine, a mixed agonist/antagonist opioid analgesic produced psychic dependence. Moreover, the physical dependence liability of nalbuphine was compared with that of morphine after 7 days administrations of the drugs in mice and rats, and the effects of ginseng total saponin (GTS) on the development of physical dependence on nalbuphine were also studied. Nalbuphine did not produce psychic dependence. However, various abstinence signs precipitated by naloxone were observed in nalbuphine-dependent mice and rats. As the nature of the dependence syndrome produced by nalbuphine 30 mg/kg under these conditions seems similar to that induced by morphine 10 mg/kg, it is clear that nalbuphine possesses the substantial abuse potential. Therefore, nalbuphine may be needed to initiate more stringent controls for the prevention of nalbuphine abuse. On the other hand, GTS inhibited the development of physical dependence on nalbuphine and reduced the contents of dopamine and its metabolite in the brains of mice. Accordingly, results of this study suggest that the inhibitory effects of GTS on the development of physical dependence on nalbuphine may involve dopaminergic mechanism. GTS may be useful for the therapy of physical dependence on nalbuphine.