• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.69-75
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• 2012

Objectives : We investigated the effects of mountain cultivated ginseng water boiled extract(MCG) on blood glucose and insulin levels, and examined whether lipid metabolism are improved by it in male db/db mice(a murine model of type 2 diabetes mellitus). Methods : 9 weeks old, male db/db mice were divided into 5 groups : C57BL/6J normal, control, MCG-250mg/kg (MCG-1), MCG-500mg/kg(MCG-2) and MCG-1000mg/kg(MCG-3). After mice were treated with MCG for 8 weeks, we measured body weight, food intake, fat weight, visceral organ weight and blood glucose, insulin and lipid levels. Results : 1. We found no difference in body weight, food intake, fat weight and visceral organ weight among the animal groups. 2. Compared with controls, MCG-treated mice had lower blood glucose level and higher blood insulin levels, the magnitude of which was prominent in MCG-2. 3. Compared with controls, MCG-treated mice had lower LDL-cholesterol and higher HDL-cholesterol levels. 4. Compared with controls, MCG-treated mice had blood triglyceride and free fatty acid levels, the magnitude of which was prominent in MCG-2. 5. Blood AST and ALT concentrations were not changed by MCG, indicating MCG do not show any toxic effects. Conclusions : These results demonstrate that MCG effectively increases blood insulin level and decreases blood glucose level, blood lipid levels, and prevents and improves diabetic dyslipidemia and cardiovascular disease.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.201-210
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• 2019

Biotransformation of ginsenosides by microorganisms alters the absorption and bioavailability of ginseng as a medicinal herb. In this study, we isolated two kinds of fermenting microorganisms from Eoyukjang, which is a traditional Korean fermented food made from soybean. Next, we identified and detected their ability to convert major ginsenosides to compound K. The two microorganisms, referred to as R2-6 and R2-15, had 100% similarity with Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum ATCC $14917^T$ and Lactobacillus rhamnosus JCM $1136^T$, respectively. The optimal pH and growth temperature of the isolates were determined to be pH 6-7 and $30^{\circ}C$. After fermentation for 30 days, the major ginsenosides in the mountain-cultivated ginseng were transformed to the highly bioactive ginsenoside, compound K, in the final product.

• Mycobiology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.147-151
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• 2014

We investigated the diversity of the foliar endophytes of Korean ginseng. Endophytic fungi were isolated from healthy leaves of mountain-cultivated ginseng (MCG) and field-cultivated ginseng (FCG) at 4 sites in Chungbuk Province. A total of 24 species of fungal endophytes were identified using molecular approaches. Additionally, the diversity of these endophytic fungi was compared between MCG and FCG. The major isolated endophytes were Edenia gomezpompae and Gibberella moniliformis in the MCG and FCG samples, respectively. The results suggest that ginseng endophytes have different community structures in different environments, and this understanding may prove useful in ginseng cultivation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.462-470
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• 2012

Mountain cultivated ginseng (MCG) is a type of Panax ginseng C. A. Mayer, grown in the mountains by artificial seeding. In general, it has been known that the biophysical activities of MCG is greater than that of ginseng. However, the in vivo efficacy of MCG on cancer has not been studied. In this study, we investigated the anti-carcinogenic effect of MCG and ginseng using the 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol- 13-acetate (TPA) two stage mouse skin carcinogenesis model. Six weeks of female ICR mice were divided into control, MCG, and ginseng diet groups and were subjected into two different experimental protocols. In the first study, each experimental diet was fed with TPA promotion for 24 weeks. The result showed that supplementation of MCG reduced tumor incidence, tumor multiplicity, and tumor size compared to those of the control and ginseng groups. In the second study, 3 groups of mice were supplied with each diet 4 weeks before DMBA tumor initiation, until the end of experiment. The result showed that tumor incidence, tumor multiplicity, and tumor size were reduced in the ginseng diet group compared to those of the control and MCG groups. TPA-induced BrdU incorporation was also significantly reduced in the ginseng diet group. Taken together, these results suggest that MCG is chemotherapeutic, whereas ginseng has a chemopreventative effect on mouse skin cancer.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.389-396
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• 2017

Background: Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer is wood-cultivated ginseng (WCG) in Korea which depends on an artificial forest growth method. To produce this type of ginseng, various P. ginseng cultivars can be used. To obtain a WCG similar to wild ginseng (WG), this method is usually performed in a mountain using seeds or seedlings of cultivated ginseng (CG) and WG. Recently, the WCG industry is suffering a problem in that Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F. H. Chen or Panax quinquefolium L. are being sold as WCG Korean market; These morphological similarities have created confusion among customers. Methods and Results: WCG samples were collected from five areas in Korea. After polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification using the primer pair labeled with fluorescence dye (FAM, NED, PET, or VIC), fragment analysis were performed. PCR products were separated by capillary electrophoresis with an ABI 3730 DNA analyzer. From the results, WCG cultivated in Korea showed very diverse genetic background. Conclusions: In this study, we tried to develop a method to discriminate between WCG, P. notoginseng or P. quinquefolium using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Furthermore, we analyzed the genetic diversity of WCG collected from five cultivation areas in Korea.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.60-66
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• 2004

“The Regional complex long-term program of restoration (reintroduction) of Primoryes ginseng population up to 2005” elaborated by Primorye governor administration, Regional Committee of Natural Resources and Russian Academy of Sciences operates in Russian Primorye. The Institute of Biology and Soil Science (IBSS) provides the scientific implementation of the program including the genetic analysis of extant ginseng populations, plant reproduction and off-spring identification. According to our investigations, the genetic resource of P. ginseng in Primorye is represented by three populations of wild-growing ginseng and a few pritate plantations. The results obtained by RAPD allowed concluding that the resource is dispersed among the wild and cultivated ginseng sub-populations in such a way that each of sub-populations studied has to be represented as a stock material to maintain species genetic variability. The allozyme analyses also showed that the small sub-populations of wild ginseng are characterized by unique genetic diversity and, therefore, they all need to be represented in reintroduction centers. Additionally the allozyme analysis discovered that the Blue Mountain and Khasan populations possess the most genetic diversity. So, at least one more reproductive ginseng unit has to be created besides two already existing reintroduction centers representing the Sikhote-Alin and the Blue Mountain populations.

• Proceedings of the Ginseng society Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.509-521
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• 2002

'The Regional complex long-term program of restoration (reintroduction) of Primoryes ginseng population up to 2005' elaborated by Primorye governor administration, Regional Committee of Natural Resources and Russian Academy of Sciences operates in Russian Primorye. The Institute of Biology and Soil Science (IBSS) provides the scientific implementation of this program including the genetic analysis of extant ginseng populations, plant reproduction and offspring identification. According to our investigations, the genetic resource of P. ginseng in Primorye is represented by three populations of wild-growing ginseng and a few private plantations. The results obtained by RAPD allowed concluding that this resource is dispersed among the wild and cultivated ginseng sub-populations in such a way that each of sub-populations studied has to be represented in living plant collection as a stock material to maintain species genetic variability. The allozyme analyses also showed that the small sub-populations of natural ginseng are characterized by unique genetic diversity and, therefore, they all need to be represented in reintroduction centers. Additionally the allozyme analysis discovered that the Blue Mountain and Khasan populations possess the most genetic diversity. So, at least one more reproductive ginseng unit has to be created besides two already existing reintroduction centers representing the Sikhote-Alin and the Blue Mountain populations.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.561-571
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• 2023

Background: Escalating evidence shows that ginseng possesses an antiaging potential with cognitive enhancing activity. As mountain cultivated ginseng (MCG) is cultivated without agricultural chemicals, MCG has emerged as a popular herb medicine. However, little is known about the MCG-mediated pharmacological mechanism on brain aging. Methods: As we demonstrated that glutathione peroxidase (GPx) is important for enhancing memory function in the animal model of aging, we investigated the role of MCG as a GPx inducer using GPx-1 (a major type of GPx) knockout (KO) mice. We assessed whether MCG modulates redox and cholinergic parameters, and memory function in aged GPx-1 knockout KOmice. Results: Redox burden of aged GPx-1 KO mice was more evident than that of aged wild-type (WT) mice. Alteration of Nrf2 DNA binding activity appeared to be more evident than that of NFκB DNA binding activity in aged GPx-1 KO mice. Alteration in choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity was more evident than that in acetylcholine esterase activity. MCG significantly attenuated reductions in Nrf2 system and ChAT level. MCG significantly enhanced the co-localization of Nrf2-immunoreactivity and ChAT-immunoreactivity in the same cell population. Nrf2 inhibitor brusatol significantly counteracted MCG-mediated up-regulation in ChAT level and ChAT inhibition (by k252a) significantly reduced ERK phosphorylation by MCG, suggesting that MCG might require signal cascade of Nrf2/ChAT/ERK to enhance cognition. Conclusion: GPx-1 depletion might be a prerequisite for cognitive impairment in aged animals. MCG-mediated cognition enhancement might be associated with the activations of Nrf2, ChAT, and ERK signaling cascade.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.50-56
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• 2014

Objectives: Mountain ginseng pharmacopuncture (MGP) is an extract distilled from either mountain cultivated ginseng or mountain wild ginseng. This is the first intravenous injection of pharmacopuncture in Korea. The word intravenous does not discriminate between arteries, veins, and capillaries in Oriental Medicine, but only the vein is used for MGP. The aim of this study is to evaluate the intravenous injection toxicity of MGP through a single-dose test in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Methods: Male and female 6-week-old SD rats were injected intravenously with MGP (high dosage of 20 mL/kg or low dosage of 10 mL/kg). Normal saline was injected into the rats in the control group by using the same method. After the rats has treated, we conducted clinical observations, body-weight measurements and histological observations. Results: In this study, no mortalities were observed in any of the experimental groups. Also, no significant changes by the intravenous injection of MGP were observed in the body weights, or the histological observations in any of the experimental groups compared to the control group. The lethal dose for intravenous injection of MGP was found to be over 20 mL/kg in SD rats. Conclusion: Considering that the dosage of MGP generally used each time in clinical practice is about 0.3 mL/kg, we concluded with confidence that MGP is safe pharmacopuncture.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.27-35
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• 2014

Objectives: Mountain ginseng pharmacopuncture (MGP) is a pharmacopuncture made by distilling extract from mountain cultivated ginseng or mountain wild ginseng. This pharmacopuncture is injected intravenously, which is a quick, lossless way of strongly tonifying Qi function. The present study was undertaken to evaluate a 4-week, repeated, intravenous injection, toxicity test of MGP in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Methods: Twenty male and female 6-week-old SD rats were used as subjects. We divided the SD rats into 4 groups: the high-dosage (10 mL/kg), medium-dosage (5 mL/kg), low-dosage (2.5 mL/kg) and control (normal saline) groups. MGP or normal saline was injected intravenously into the caudal vein of the rats once daily for 4 weeks. Clinical signs, body weights, and food consumption were monitored during the observation period, and hematology, serum biochemistry, organ weight, necropsy, and histological examinations were conducted once the observations had been completed. Results: No mortality was observed in any of the groups during the observation period. No changes due to MGP were observed in the experimental groups regarding clinical signs, body weights, food consumption, hematology, serum biochemistry, organ weight and necropsy. No histological changes due to MGP were observed in any of the male or female rats in the high-dosage group. Conclusion: During this 4-week, repeated, intravenous injection, toxicity test of MGP in SD rats, no toxic changes due to MGP were observed in any of the male or female rats in the high-dosage group. Thus, we suggest that the high and the low doses in a 13-week, repeated test should be 10 mL/kg and 2.5 mL/kg, respectively.