• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.264-269
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• 2014

Background: In this study, we examined the effects of various enzymes on chemical conversions of ginsenosides in ginseng extract prepared by amylases. Methods: Rapidase, Econase CE, Viscozyme, Ultraflo L, and Cytolase PCL5 were used for secondary enzymatic hydrolysis after amylase treatment of ginseng extract, and ginsenoside contents, skin permeability, and chemical compositions including total sugar, acidic polysaccharide, and polyphenols were determined on the hydrolyzed ginseng extract. Results: Rapidase treatment significantly elevated total ginsenoside contents compared with the control (p < 0.05). In particular, deglycosylated ginsenosides including Rg3, which are known as bioactive compounds, were significantly increased after Rapidase treatment (p < 0.05). The Rapidase-treated group also increased the skin permeability of polyphenols compared with the control, showing the highest level of total sugar content among the enzyme treatment groups. Conclusion: This result showed that Rapidase induced the conversion of ginsenoside glycosides to aglycones. Meanwhile, Cytolase PCL5 and Econase treatments led to a significant increase of uronic acid (acidic polysaccharide) level. Taken together, our data showed that the treatments of enzymes including Rapidase are useful for the conversion and increase of ginsenosides in ginseng extracts or products.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.87-91
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• 2019

The contents of major ginsenosides (ginsenosides Rb1, ginsenoside Rc, ginsenoside Rd, ginsenoside Re, ginsenoside Rf, and ginsenoside Rg1) in ginseng cultivated in different areas in Korea, ginseng that underwent different cultivation processes and ages, and ginseng cultivated in different countries were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography equipped with UV/VIS detector. Ginsenoside Rc was the most abundant ginsenoside in all different ginseng samples. The highest total concentration of major ginsenosides was found in the ginseng cultivated in Jinan (0.931 mg/g) and 4-year grown red ginseng (1.785 mg/g). Major ginsenosides were the most abundant in Korean ginseng (1.264 mg/g), compared to those in Chinese and American ginseng. The results of this study showed the different contents of major ginsenosides in the ginseng samples tested and emphasized which sample could contain high yield of ginsenosides.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.114-122
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• 1993

0.5 mg of natural ginsenoside mixture and 0.8 $\mu$Ci of synthesized 14C-ginsenosides were administered orally to a rat and killed at one hour after the ginsenoside administration and the liver was fractionated into nuclear fraction, mitrochondria microsomes and cytosol fraction. Radioactivity distribu lion in subcellular fractions of the liver showed that 32o1c of total radioactivity absorbed in the liver was in cytosol fraction but a significant portion of the radioactivity was also found in mitochondria (26.6%) and microsomal fraction (18.l%). 5.8% of the total radioactivity was recovered from the nuclear fraction as well. This suggested that ginsenosides might be distributed into all subcellular fractions. Activities of mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase, lactate dehydrogenase and malate dehydrogenase of the liver of rat at two hours after the ginsenoside administraion were found appreciably stimulated, suggesting that the ginsenoside concentration in the liver might be around 10-5%, since optimum concentrations for most enzyme catalyzed reactions in vitro were known to be 10-6% 10-4%. A significant portion of the radioactivity recovered from subcellular fractions of the liver was found in protein fractions, suggesting that proteins might interact with ginsenosides. Examination of protein-ginsenoside interation by gel filtration, equilibrium dialysis and amonium sulfate precipitation technique suggesting that proteins and ginsenosides do not bound covalently but weakl\ulcorner combined. When purified ginsenoside Rbl and Rgl were incubated with rat liver cytosolic enzymes for 20 min, the above ginsenosides were hydrolyzed quickly, suggesting that ginsenosides might be rapidly hydrolyzed and metabolized in the liver. It was also observed in vitro that the ginsenosides such as Rbl and Rgl were easily hydrolyzed by rat liver cytosol preparation suggesting that absorbed ginsenosides might be quickly hydrolyzed and metabolized in the liver.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.382-394
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• 2016

Background: Ginsenosides are the characteristic and principal components which manifest a variety of the biological and pharmacological activities of the roots and rhizomes of Panax ginseng (GRR). This study was carried out to qualitatively and quantitatively determine the ginsenosides in the cultivated and forest GRR. Methods: A rapid and sensitive ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode-array detector and quadrupole/time of flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-DAD-QTOF-MS/MS) was applied to the qualitative analysis of ginsenosides and a 4000 QTRAP triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer (HPLC-ESI-MS) was applied to quantitative analysis of 19 ginsenosides. Results: In the qualitative analysis, all ingredients were separated in 10 min. A total of 131 ginsenosides were detected in cultivated and forest GRR. The method for the quantitative determination was validated for linearity, precision, and limits of detection and quantification. 19 representative ginsenosides were quantitated. The total content of all 19 ginsenosides in the forest GRR were much higher than those in the cultivated GRR, and were increased with the growing ages. Conclusion: This newly developed analysis method could be applied to the quality assessment of GRR as well as the distinction between cultivated and forest GRR.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.445-454
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• 2020

Background: Culturing wild ginseng adventitious root using plant factory technology provides genetic safety and high productivity. This production technology is drawing attention in the fields of functional raw materials and product development. The cultivation method using elicitors is key technology for controlling biomass and increasing secondary metabolites. Methods and Results: Elicitor treatments using methyl jasmonate, pyruvic acid, squalene, β-sistosterol were performed to amplify total ginsenosides (Rb1, Rc, Rb2, Rb3, and Rd) of cultured wild ginseng adventitious root. Thereafter, fermentation and steaming processes were performed to convert total ginsenosides into minor molecular ginsenosides (Rg3, Rk1, and Rg5). The result indicated that methyl jasmonate minimizes the reduction in fresh weight of cultured wild ginseng adventitious root and maximizes total ginsenosides (sum of Rb1, Rc, Rb2, Rb3, and Rd). Ginsenoside conversion results showed a maximum degree of conversion of 131 mg/g. Conclusions: In this study, we demonstrated that the optimal elicitor treatment method increased the content of total ginsenosides, while the steaming and fermentation processing method increased the content of minor ginsenosides.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.95-110
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• 2007

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate molecular basis of neuroprotective effect in total ginsenosides. After H202 induced neurotoxicity, gene expression profiling of SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells treated by total ginsenosides is analyzed. Method : After SH-SY5Y cells were cultured, they were damaged by H202 induced oxidative stress. After twenty four hours, experimental group is treated by total ginsenosides and control group is treated by 0.9% saline. A high density cDNA microarray chip is used to analyze the gene expression profiling of SH-SY5Y cells. The Significance Analysis of Microarray method is used for identifying genes on a microarray. Results : 1. According to the results of microarray experiment, 17 genes were up-regulated, 38 genes were down-regulated. 2. Expression of OPHNl, KTANl, ATM, PRKCE, MAPKs genes associated with cell proliferation, neural growth, and the prevention of apoptosis were increased. 3. Change of EPX gene was the greatest among all genes. EPX gene associated with oxidative stress, and tumor suppressor gene ADAM11 were decreased. Conclusion : According to this study, molecular basis of neuroprotective effect of total ginsenosides is as followings: the increase of gene expression associated with cell proliferation, neuron growth, the prevention of apoptotsis and decrease of gene expression associated with oxidative stress and tumor suppressor.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.264-269
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• 2018

Panax ginseng, also called Asian or Korean ginseng, has long been traditionally used in Korea and China to treat various diseases. The major active ingredients of P. ginseng are ginsenosides, which have been shown to have a variety of therapeutic effects, including antioxidation, anti-inflammatory, vasorelaxation, antiallergic, antidiabetic, and anticancer. To date, approximately 40 ginsenoside components have been reported. Current research is concentrating on using a single ginseng compound, one of the ginsenosides, instead of the total ginseng compounds, to determine the mechanisms of ginseng and ginsenosides. Recent in vitro and in vivo results show that ginseng has beneficial effects on cardiac and vascular diseases through efficacy, including antioxidation, control of vasomotor function, modulation of ion channels and signal transduction, improvement of lipid profiles, adjustment of blood pressure, improvement in cardiac function, and reduction in platelet adhesion. This review aims to provide valuable information on the traditional uses of ginseng and ginsenosides, their therapeutic applications in animal models and humans, and the pharmacological action of ginseng and ginsenosides.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.163-175
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• 2021

Background: Ginsenosides, which have strong biological activities, can be divided into polar or less-polar ginsenosides. Methods: This study evaluated the phytochemical diversity of the saponins in Panax ginseng (PG) root, American ginseng (AG) root, and Panax notoginseng (NG) root; the stem-leaves from Panax ginseng (SPG) root, American ginseng (SAG) root, and Panax notoginseng (SNG) root as well as the saponins obtained following heating and acidification [transformed Panax ginseng (TPG), transformed American ginseng (TAG), transformed Panax notoginseng (TNG), transformed stem-leaves from Panax ginseng (TSPG), transformed stem-leaves from American ginseng (TSAG), and transformed stem-leaves from Panax notoginseng (TSNG)]. The diversity was determined through the simultaneous quantification of the 16 major ginsenosides. Results: The content of ginsenosides in NG was found to be higher than those in AG and PG, and the content in SPG was greater than those in SNG and SAG. After transformation, the contents of polar ginsenosides in the raw saponins decreased, and contents of less-polar compounds increased. TNG had the highest levels of ginsenosides, which is consistent with the transformation of ginseng root. The contents of saponins in the stem-leaves were higher than those in the roots. The transformation rate of SNG was higher than those of the other samples, and the loss ratios of total ginsenosides from NG (6%) and SNG (4%) were the lowest among the tested materials. In addition to the conversion temperature, time, and pH, the crude protein content also affects the conversion to rare saponins. The proteins in Panax notoginseng allowed the highest conversion rate. Conclusion: Thus, the industrial preparation of less-polar ginsenosides from SNG is more efficient and cheaper.

• Proceedings of the Ginseng society Conference
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• 1998.06a
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• pp.182-189
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• 1998

Administration of ginsenosides, a mixture of saponin extracted from Panax ginseng, decreased blood pressure in rat. Previous studies have shown that ginsenosides caused endothelium-dependent relaxation, which was associated with the formation of cyclic GMP, suggested that ginsenosides caused release of nitric oxide (NO) from the vascular endothelium. The aim of the present study was to characterize the endothelium-independent relaxation to ginsenosides in the isolated rat aorta. Ginsenosides caused a concentration-dependent relaxation of rat aortic rings without endothelium constricted with 25 mM KCI but affected only minimally those constricted with 60 mM KCI. Ginsenoside Rg3 (Rg3) was a more potent vasorelaxing agonist than total ginsenoside mixture and also the ginsenoside PPT and PPD groups. Relaxation to ginsenosides were markedly reduced by TEA, but not by glibenclamide. Rg3 significantly inhibited Cal'-induced concentration-contraction curves and the "50a2'influx in aortic rings incubated in 25 mM KCI whereas those responses were not affected in 60 mM KCI. Rg3 caused efflux of $"Rb in aortic rings that was inhibited by tetraethy- lammonium (TEA), an inhibitor of Ca"-dependent K'channels, but not by glibenclamide, an inhibitor of AfP-dependent K'channels. These findings indicate that ginsenosides may induce vasorelaxation via activation of Ca2'-dependent K'channels resulting in hyperpolarization of the vas- cular smooth muscle with subsequent inhibition of the opening of voltage-dependent Caf'channels. These effects could contribute to explain the red ginseng-associated vasodilation and the beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.112-116
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• 1991

The metabolic fate of ginsenosides including gastrointestinat absorption, organ distribution, excretion and metabolism in liver was investigated by tracer studies using the radio-labeled ginsenosides. 3H-ginsenosides were shown to be absorbed from the mouse digestive tract and then to be excreted rapidly into urine and/or bile. Bile juice was concluded to play a significant role in absorption of ginsenosides. The total concentration of radioactivity persisted in tissues 24 hrs after oral administration was less than 1.3% of the administered dose and Rbl showed the highest value. The concentrations of radioactivity were relatively high in the liver and kidney. After administration of Rbl radioactivity was detected in the brain. After oral administration of 8H-ginsenosides, major component excreted into urine was found to be the intact ginsenosides and decomposed and/or metabolized products were found in GIT in the case of Rbl. 3H-ginsenoside Rbl was shown to be metabolized in the liver and the metabolite was suggested to be an acylated compound of Rbl by a certain organic acid.