• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.321-327
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• 2011

Water, methanol and ethanol extracts of ginseng leaves were assayed for total phenolics and flavonoids, ascorbic acid, cupric and ferrous ion chelating activities, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay and ABTS radical cation decolourization (TEAC) assay for their antioxidant properties. The ethanol extract of ginseng leaves contained significantly (p<0.05) higher amounts of total phenolics and flavonoids (600.57 and 1701 mg/100 g) than methanol (374.43 and 1512.64 mg/100 g) and water extracts (248.30 and 680.05 mg/100 g). Among solvent extracts of ginseng leaves, the ethanol extract showed the most powerful antioxidant activities. However, the ferrous ion chelating activity of ginseng leaf extracts were lower than the cupric ion chelating ability. These differences in concentrations of key antioxidants among various solvent extracts seemed to be responsible for their differences in antioxidant activities. These results suggest that ethanol extract of ginseng leaves has the most effective antioxidant capacity compared to the methanol and water extracts tested in the present study. Thus, it can be applied for the effective extraction of functional material from ginseng leaves for the usage of pharmaceutical and/or food industries.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.161-166
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• 2014

Ginseng is widely used for its promising healing and restorative properties as well as for its possible tonic effect in traditional medicine. Nowadays, many studies focus on purified individual ginsenoside, an important constituent in ginseng, and study its specific mechanism of action instead of whole-plant extracts on cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Of the various ginsenosides, purified ginsenosides such as Rb1, Rg1, Rg3, Rh1, Re, and Rd are the most frequently studied. Although there are many reports on the molecular mechanisms and medical applications of ginsenosides in the treatment of CVDs, many concerns exist in their application. This review discusses current works on the countless pharmacological functions and the potential benefits of ginseng in the area of CVDs. Results: Both in vitro and in vivo results indicate that ginseng has potentially positive effects on heart disease through its various properties including antioxidation, reduced platelet adhesion, vasomotor regulation, improving lipid profiles, and influencing various ion channels. To date, approximately 40 ginsenosides have been identified, and each has a different mechanism of action owing to the differences in chemical structure. This review aims to present comprehensive information on the traditional uses, phytochemistry, and pharmacology of ginseng, especially in the control of hypertension and cardiovascular function. In addition, the review also provides an insight into the opportunities for future research and development on the biological activities of ginseng.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 1997

Ginseng, the root of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer, is well-known oriental herbal medicine. The number of paper reporting the effects on its physiological, pharmacological, and behavioral effects has been increased every year, since ginsenosides isolated from ginseng are known to be biologically active components. This brief review summarizes some of new findings from recently published papers on ginsenosides or ginseng saponins. Therefore, this paper includes the various effects of ginsenosides on neuronal cell growths, on behavior of experimental animals, on enzyme activities, on the release and uptake of neurotransmitters, on neuronal cell excitability, on the motility of intestine, on antitumor activity, on cardiovascular system and metabolism. In spite of various effects of ginsenosides on various cells or organs, it is still to date impossible for one to clearly explain the exact mechanism on the action of ginsenosides. However, in this article I will discuss several papers providing possible explanations on the physiological and pharmacological actions including signal transudation pathway of ginsenosides. The elucidation of the exact mechanism of ginsenosides on cellular or molecular level will not only give us a chance to explain why people have used ginseng as an elixir of life for several thousands of year but also give us a crucial chance to apply ginseng to modern medicine.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.33-43
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• 2020

Ginseng is popularly known to be the king of ancient medicines and is used widely in most of the traditional medicinal compositions due to its various pharmaceutical properties. Numerous studies are being focused on this plant's curative effects to discover their potential health benefits in most human diseases, including cancer- the most life-threatening disease worldwide. Modern pharmacological research has focused mainly on ginsenosides, the major bioactive compounds of ginseng, because of their multiple therapeutic applications. Various issues on ginseng plant development, physiological processes, and agricultural issues have also been studied widely through state-of-the-art, high-throughput sequencing technologies. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the number of publications on ginseng has rapidly increased, with a recent count of more than 6,000 articles and reviews focusing notably on ginseng. Owing to the implementation of various technologies and continuous efforts, the ginseng plant genomes have been decoded effectively in recent years. Therefore, this review focuses mainly on the cellular biomolecular sequences in ginseng plants from the perspective of the central molecular dogma, with an emphasis on genomes, transcriptomes, and proteomes, together with a few other related studies.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.227-247
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• 2013

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of recently discovered non-coding small RNA molecules, on average approximately 21 nucleotides in length, which underlie numerous important biological roles in gene regulation in various organisms. The miRNA database (release 18) has 18,226 miRNAs, which have been deposited from different species. Although miRNAs have been identified and validated in many plant species, no studies have been reported on discovering miRNAs in Panax ginseng Meyer, which is a traditionally known medicinal plant in oriental medicine, also known as Korean ginseng. It has triterpene ginseng saponins called ginsenosides, which are responsible for its various pharmacological activities. Predicting conserved miRNAs by homology-based analysis with available expressed sequence tag (EST) sequences can be powerful, if the species lacks whole genome sequence information. In this study by using the EST based computational approach, 69 conserved miRNAs belonging to 44 miRNA families were identified in Korean ginseng. The digital gene expression patterns of predicted conserved miRNAs were analyzed by deep sequencing using small RNA sequences of flower buds, leaves, and lateral roots. We have found that many of the identified miRNAs showed tissue specific expressions. Using the insilico method, 346 potential targets were identified for the predicted 69 conserved miRNAs by searching the ginseng EST database, and the predicted targets were mainly involved in secondary metabolic processes, responses to biotic and abiotic stress, and transcription regulator activities, as well as a variety of other metabolic processes.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.315-324
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• 2011

This study investigated the effect of red ginseng extract on metastasis of colon cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Wound healing migration, cell motility, invasion, and activity, protein expression, and mRNA expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) were examined in SW480 human colon cancer cells. SW480 cells were cultured with or without $100{\mu}g/L$ PMA in the absence or presence of various concentrations (100, 200, or $300{\mu}g/mL$) of red ginseng extract. Red ginseng extract treatment caused signifi cant suppression of cell motility and invasion (p<0.05) in SW480 cells. Red ginseng extract inhibited MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity and their protein and mRNA expression in a dose-dependent manner (p<0.05) in SW480 cells. For experimental metastasis, BALB/c mice were injected intravenously with CT-26 mouse colon cancer cells in the tail vein, and were orally administered various concentrations (0, 75, 150, or 300 mg/kg body weight) of red ginseng extract for 3 weeks. Numbers of pulmonary nodules were signifi cantly decreased in mice that were fed red ginseng extract (p<0.05). Plasma MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity signifi cantly decreased in response to treatment with red ginseng extract in mice (p<0.05). These data suggest that red ginseng extract may be useful for prevention of cancer invasion and metastasis through inhibition of MMP-2 and MMP-9 pathways.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.408-420
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• 2019

Background: Ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) is an invaluable medicinal plant containing various bioactive metabolites (e.g., ginsenosides). Owing to its long cultivation period, ginseng is vulnerable to various biotic constraints. Biological control using endophytes is an important alternative to chemical control. Methods: In this study, endophytic Trichoderma citrinoviride PG87, isolated from mountain-cultivated ginseng, was evaluated for biocontrol activity against six major ginseng pathogens. T. citrinoviride exhibited antagonistic activity with mycoparasitism against all ginseng pathogens, with high endo-1,4-${\beta}$-D-glucanase activity. Results: T. citrinoviride inoculation significantly reduced the disease symptoms caused by Botrytis cinerea and Cylindrocarpon destructans and induced ginsenoside biosynthesis in ginseng plants. T. citrinoviride was formulated as dustable powder and granules. The formulated agents also exhibited significant biocontrol activity and induced ginsenosides production in the controlled environment and mountain area. Conclusion: Our results revealed that T. citrinoviride has great potential as a biological control agent and elicitor of ginsenoside production.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.160-164
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• 1994

In this study, we investigeated the anticarcinogenicity of various types and ages of ginseng extracts as an extended study using Yun's anticarcinogenicity test. Fresh ginseng at 1.5, 3, 4, 5 and 6 years was dried and powdered. And white ginseng was processed in the same way that of fresh ginseng after removal fo the ginseng cortex and fine root. For red ginsneg, fresh ginseng was steamed and dried. Each ginseng powder was extracted and extracts was freeze dried. Newborn N:GP(S) mice were given a single subcutaneous injection of 0.5 mg of benzo(a)pyrene(BP). Various types and ages of ginseng extracts at 2.5mg/ml were orally administered. All the mice were sacrificed at the 9th week. The following results were obtained. In the dried fresh ginseng extract treated group, the incidence of lung adenoma induced by BP was 63.9% and its incidence was reduced to 48.3%, 52.5%, 51.8%, 47.5% and 44.1% after co-treatment with 1.5, 3, 4, 5 and 6 year-dried fresh ginseng, respectively. The incidence of lung adenoma induced by BP on the white ginseng extract treated group was 41.3% and decreased to 31.0%, 46.0%, 44.0% and 26.5% after co-treatment with 3, 4, 5 and 6 year-white ginseng, respectively. In the red ginseng extract treated group, the incidence of lung adenoma induced by BP was 47.5% and its incidence diminished to 40.7%, 35.0%, 30.1%, 30.0% and 26.3% after co-treatment with 1.5, 3, 4, 5 and 6 year-red ginseng, respectively. From the above results, we concluded that a statistically significant anticarcinogenic effect was observed in extracts of 6 year-dried fresh ginseng, 6 year-white ginseng, and 4, 5 and 6 year-red ginseng and it is suggested that the anticarcinogenicity of ginseng varies according to the types and ages Key words Ginseng extract, types and ages. anticarcinogenic, newborn mice, lung tumor.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.192-196
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• 1991

As a part of studios on the Quality control of index components in crude drug preparations, extraction yields of ginseng saponins from crude drug extracts were identified by TLC and quantified by HPLC. So-Shi-Ho-Tang(小柴胡湯), Sa-Kun-Ja-Tang(四君子湯), Yook-Kun-Ja-Tang(六君子湯) and In-sam-Tang(人蔘湯) were extracted with water, 30%-ethanol, 50%-ethanol, 80%-ethanol and absolute ethanol to analyze ginseng saponins in the crude drug extracts prepared with various concentrations of ethanol. Ginseng saponins were extracted considerably more from the extracts with higher concentrations of ethanol than those with water or lower concentrations of ethanol. Extraction yields of ginseng-side-Rb$_1$, -Rb$_2$ and -R$_c$ from four crude drug preparations were the lowest as 4.9~45.9%, 5.0~40.1, and 6.3~43.7% in water extract and the highest as 29.5~62.6%, 26.7~61.4% and 31.4~62.0% in absolute ethanol extract, compared with those of 80%-methanol extracts.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.56-66
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• 1982

The effects of various dehiscent application such as dehiscent materials (big chaffs, vermiculite etc.), growth regulators and agricultural chemicals (plant protector.) on stimulation of dehiscence and shortening of dehiscent period were investigated Results obtained were as follows : 1. The moisture content of endosperm and seed coat at 10 day after dehiscent application amounts between 40% and 50%. 2. Endosperm diameter was increased with time of stratification, and the embryo growth showed in linear function, 3. Non-dehiscent seed showed also normally development of embryo, and the property of dehiscence dependent from physico-chemical nature of ginseng seed coat. 4. The best dehiscent materials were big chaffs and followed vermiculite, sand and sand with big chaffs. 5. The effect of dehiscence of ginseng seed showed higher activity in fungi than in bacteria in general. 6. Agricultural chemicals ( plant Protector) reduced the dehiscent rate of ginseng seed 7. The best timing of dehiscent treatment was between August 1 and August 10 but the smaller amount of dehiscent rate after August 10 dehiscent appllication indicated that big chaffs and growth regulator treatment may be controlled shortening of dehiscent period of ginseng seed.