• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.371-374
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• 2005

The compositions and antioxidant activities of tree and hydrolyzed phenolic acids, which are aglycones of esterified phenolic acids, in wild ginseng leaves were investigated. The contents of tree and hydrolyzed phenolic acids in the wild ginseng leaves were $422.4\;{\pm}\;3.5$ and $319.6\;{\pm}\;5.7\;mg/100\;g$, respectively, as gallic acid equivalents. Free phenolic acids were composed of 55.3% benzoic acid derivatives and 44.6% phenylpropanoids. The major constituents of free phenolic acids in the ginseng leaves were syringic (139.4 mg/l00 g) and sinapic (131.2 mg/100 g) acids. On the other hand, hydrolyzed phenolic acids in the ginseng leaves were mainly composed of caffeic (59.4 mg/100 g), ferulic (49.5 mg/100 g), and p-coumaric (33.8 mg/100g) acids. Phenylpropanoid content was higher (82.7%) than benzoic acid derivatives (17.3%). $IC_{50}$ values of DPPH radical scavenging activity were $10.2\;{\mu}g/mL$ for tree phenolic acids and 8.0 mg/mL for hydrolyzed phenolic acids, as gallic acid equivalents. Hydrolyzed phenolic acids also exhibited higher hydroxyl and superoxide radical scavenging activities than free phenolic acids did. These results indicated that the antioxidant activities of the wild ginseng leaves were correlated more closely with phenylpropanoid contents than with total amount of phenolics.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.53-58
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• 1981

The effective components of Korean ginseng showing the lipid-peroxide depressing activity were isolated. From the ether-soluble acidic fraction of fresh ginseng three phenolic acids were obtained. Salicylic acid and vanilic acid exhibited the potent antioxidant activity, where p-hydroxycinnamic acid did not.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.68-75
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• 2016

Background: The study of phenolic compounds profiles and antioxidative activity in ginseng fruit, leaves, and roots with respect to cultivation years, and has been little reported to date. Hence, this study examined the phenolic compounds profiles and 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free-radical-scavenging activities in the fruit, leaves, and roots of Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) as a function of cultivation year. Methods: Profiling of 23 phenolic compounds in ginseng fruit, leaves, and roots was investigated using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with the external calibration method. Antioxidative activity of ginseng fruit, leaves, and roots were evaluated using the method of DPPH free-radical-scavenging activity. Results: The total phenol content in ginseng fruit and leaves was higher than in ginseng roots (p < 0.05), and the phenol content in the ginseng samples was significantly correlated to the DPPH free-radical-scavenging activity ($r=0.928^{****}$). In particular, p-coumaric acid ($r=0.847^{****}$) and ferulic acid ($r=0.742^{****}$) greatly affected the DPPH activity. Among the 23 phenolic compounds studied, phenolic acids were more abundant in ginseng fruit, leaves, and roots than the flavonoids and other compounds (p < 0.05). In particular, chlorogenic acid, gentisic acid, p- and m-coumaric acid, and rutin were the major phenolic compounds in 3e6-yr-old ginseng fruit, leaves, and roots. Conclusion: This study provides basic information about the antioxidative activity and phenolic compounds profiles in fruit, leaves, and roots of Korean ginseng with cultivation years. This information is potentially useful to ginseng growers and industries involved in the production of high-quality and nutritional ginseng products.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.54-63
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• 1985

The free phenolic fraction from Korean white ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) was studied by GLC/MS as trimethylsilyl and methyl derivative. Five phenolic compounds such as 2,6-ditert butyl p-crestal, phloroglucinol, protocatechuic acid, isoferulic acid, quinic acid were identified newly. And additionally 13 organic acids and hydrocarbons were also identified in the fraction.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.60-65
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• 1989

The Quality characteristics of pH, ginsenosides, fatty acid, phenolic compounds were studied for their changes during growth of Candia parapsilosis. The yeast growth not only scarcely affected the total amount of saponins and ginsenosidvs of recd ginseng tail root extract, but also was not affected by the saponin C. pnrapsilosis did not utilize the ginsenosides as a carbon source. Glucose, fructose and free sugars were utilized in the initial phase of growth, whereas sucrose and maltose were used as the growth continued and completely redured after 43 hours of incubation. Unsaturated fatty acids were significantly reduced with cell growth, showing a relationship between unsaturated fatty acid content and the yeast growth, whereas the amount of saturate[1 tatty acids in red ginseng extract was not affected by the yeast growth. Generally, there were no changes in major organic acids and phenolic compounds (vanillie acid , m-coumaric acid) except the 50% reduction in maltol and ferulic acid in the ginseng extract. The amounts of amlno acids were gradually decreased, but that of arginine was remarkably reduced.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.714-725
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• 2023

Background: Our previous investigation indicated that the preparation of Panax ginseng Meyer (P. ginseng) inhibited melanogenesis. It comprised salicylic acid (SA), protocatechuic acid (PA), p-coumaric acid (p-CA), vanillic acid (VA), and caffeic acid (CA). In this investigation, the regulatory effects of P. ginseng phenolic acid monomers on melanin production were assessed. Methods: In vitro and in vivo impact of phenolic acid monomers were assessed. Results: SA, PA, p-CA and VA inhibited tyrosinase (TYR) to reduce melanin production, whereas CA had the opposite effects. SA, PA, p-CA and VA significantly downregulated the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R), cycle AMP (cAMP), protein kinase A (PKA), cycle AMP-response element-binding protein (CREB), microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) pathway, reducing mRNA and protein levels of TYR, tyrosinase-related protein 1 (TYRP1), and TYRP2. Moreover, CA treatment enhanced the cAMP, PKA, and CREB pathways to promote MITF mRNA level and phosphorylation. It also alleviated MITF protein level in α-MSH-stimulated B16F10 cells, comparable to untreated B16F10, increasing the expression of phosphorylation glycogen synthase kinase 3β (p-GSK3β), β-catenin, p-ERK/ERK, and p-p38/p38. Furthermore, the GSK3β inhibitor promoted p-GSK3β and p-MITF expression, as observed in CA-treated cells. Moreover, p38 and ERK inhibitors inhibited CA-stimulated p-p38/p38, p-ERK/ERK, and p-MITF increase, which had negative binding energies with MC1R, as depicted by molecular docking. Conclusion: P. ginseng roots' phenolic acid monomers can safely inhibit melanin production by bidirectionally regulating melanin synthase transcription. Furthermore, they reduced MITF expression via MC1R/cAMP/PKA signaling pathway and enhanced MITF post-translational modification via Wnt/mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.39 no.8
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• pp.1194-1200
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• 2010

This study was carried out to investigate the compositional changes of ginsenosides and phenolic acids of ginseng leaf by fermentation in order to promote the utilization of ginseng leaf. The chief ginsenosides in non-fermented ginseng leaf (NFGL) were ginsenoside-Rg1 (26.0 mg/g), -Re (47.3 mg/g) and -Rd (23.9 mg/g). By fermentation, ginsenoside-Rg1, -Rb1, -Rb2, -Rb3, -Rc and -Re were decreased tremendously and new ginsenoside-Rh2, -Rh1, -Rg2 and -Rg3 appeared. Especially, ginsenoside-Rg3 (3.7 mg/g) on FGL was increased 15-fold compared to that of NFGL (0.2 mg/g). Total phenolic compound content of NFGL and FGL measured by colorimetric analysis was 350.4 and 312.5 mg%, respectively. There were 8 free and 6 ester forms of phenolic acids in NFGL. Among them, content of ferulic acid was the highest, comprised of 12.6 and 50.7 mg%, respectively. In FGL, total content of protocatechuic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, and vanillic acid were increased by 28, 5 and 7.8 fold and ferulic acid was decreased greatly. Tyrosinase inhibitory activity of FGL was stronger than NFGL, while electron donating abilities of FGL were similar to NFGL.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.82-87
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• 2006

Quantitative difference in five phenolic acids between white and red ginsengs was measured in this study. As the results, white ginseng has higher contents of cinnamic acid, quercetin and p-coumaric acid than red ginseng. Maltol was mainly included in red ginseng. These five compounds were recently reported to have tyrosinase inhibitory effects. These reports led us to investigate the de-pigmenting effect of ginseng products. In our examination of effect on tyrosinase activity, UV-protection and melanin production in melan-a cells, ethyl acetate traction of white ginseng extract and cinnamic acid showed potent de-pigmenting properties. The results indicated that white ginseng might be useful as skin whitening material and cinnamic acid proved to be one of active ingredient.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.138-143
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• 2011

This study analyzed the maltol quality, composition ratio of fatty acids, and contents of phenolic compounds in white ginseng extracts(four types), red ginseng extracts(five types), black ginseng extracts(two types), and Chinese ginseng extracts(nine types). By examining patterns in these measurements, we determined the characteristic factors of the extracts and measured the possibility of qualitative analysis. In the analysis of maltol using TLC, white ginseng extracts were not detected while red and black ginseng extracts were detected, so the possibility of detection was considered as a characteristic factor for qualitative analysis. Regarding the composition of fatty acids, palmitic and linoleic acids were the main fatty acids in the ginseng extracts palmitic acid was high in white ginseng extracts while linoleic was low in red ginseng extracts. Regarding the ratio(Pal/Lin) of the two fatty acids, there was a large difference between white ginseng extracts(56.7~64.3%) and red ginseng extracts(32.0~38.5%), and these figures seemed to be characteristic factors for the analysis. For the phenolic compounds, extracts contained maltol, caffeic acid, syringic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, and cinnamic acid. White ginseng extracts contained similar percentages of phenolic compounds while red ginseng extracts had high maltol content. According to the measurement results of the percentages of maltol and cinnamic acid, white ginseng extracts showed values below five, whereas red and black ginseng extracts showed 53~289, which was also a characteristic factor for qualitative analysis. Consequently, we found that we can differentiate between ginseng extracts using characteristic factors that we analyzed in an experiment on white ginseng extracts from China.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.413-423
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• 2020

Background: Ginseng berries (GBs) show temporal metabolic variations among different maturation stages, determining their organoleptic and functional properties. Methods: We analyzed metabolic variations concomitant to five different maturation stages of GBs including immature green (IG), mature green (MG), partially red (PR), fully red (FR), and overmature red (OR) using mass spectrometry (MS)-based metabolomic profiling and multivariate analyses. Results: The partial least squares discriminant analysis score plot based on gas chromatography-MS datasets highlighted metabolic disparity between preharvest (IG and MG) and harvest/postharvest (PR, FR, and OR) GB extracts along PLS1 (34.9%) with MG distinctly segregated across PLS2 (18.2%). Forty-three significantly discriminant primary metabolites were identified encompassing five developmental stages (variable importance in projection > 1.0, p < 0.05). Among them, most amino acids, organic acids, 5-C sugars, ethanolamines, purines, and palmitic acid were detected in preharvest GB extracts, whereas 6-C sugars, phenolic acid, and oleamide levels were distinctly higher during later maturation stages. Similarly, the partial least squares discriminant analysis based on liquid chromatography-MS datasets displayed preharvest and harvest/postharvest stages clustered across PLS1 (11.1 %); however, MG and PR were separated from IG, FR, and OR along PLS2 (5.6 %). Overall, 24 secondary metabolites were observed significantly discriminant (variable importance in projection > 1.0, p < 0.05), with most displaying higher relative abundance during preharvest stages excluding ginsenosides Rg1 and Re. Furthermore, we observed strong positive correlations between total flavonoid and phenolic metabolite contents in GB extracts and antioxidant activity. Conclusion: Comprehending the dynamic metabolic variations associated with GB maturation stages rationalize their optimal harvest time per se the related agroeconomic traits.