• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 1981

Total saponin, protopanaxadiol-saponin and protopanaxatriol-saponin were isolated and purified from the side roots of red ginseng. After we administered them orally into rats during 5 weeks, we observed their effects on lipid and glucose content in rat serum. The change in body weight of protopanaxatriol- saponin treated group was slightly larger than those of other groups. Total lipid content in total saponin treated group showed an increase of about 20 % over that in control group. However, protopanaxadiol-saponin and protopanaxatriol- saponin treated groups showed no change. While triglyceride content in total saponin treated group decreased 29oyo compared to it s content in control group, its content in protopanaxatriol-saponin treated group increased 45%. Three saponin treated groups showed lower value than control group in total ant free cholesterol levels. While glucose content in total saponin treated group decreased slightly, that in Protopanaxadiol-saponin treated group decreased slightly compared to that in control group. And protopanaxatriol- saponin trented group showed the significant decrease of 25%. From these results, it is supposed that total saponin accelerates the conversion of lipid into glucose and that protopanaxatriol- saponin accelerates the conversion of glucose into lipid.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2022

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the changes in ingredients according to its cultivation method by examining the content of saponin and non-saponin components of ginseng. Methods: Ginseng saponin component analysis was compared and reviewed using the high-performance liquid chromatography method, and acidic polysaccharide component was measured using the carbazole sulfuric acid method. Results: The comparative analysis of ginseng saponin content of 4 and 6 years old fresh ginseng showed the following results. According to the cultivation method, upland field cultivation fresh ginseng showed higher average content of crude saponin than paddy field cultivation fresh ginseng. Whereas, paddy field cultivation fresh ginseng showed higher average content of total saponin than upland field cultivation fresh ginseng. Ginsenoside Rb1 showed higher content of paddy field cultivation fresh ginseng than upland field cultivation fresh ginseng in 6 years old ginseng. However, it showed higher content of upland field cultivation fresh ginseng than paddy field cultivation fresh ginseng in 4 years old ginseng. Additionally, ginsenoside Rg1 showed higher content of paddy field cultivation fresh ginseng than upland field cultivation fresh ginseng in 6 years old ginseng, whereas upland field cultivation fresh ginseng showed higher content of paddy field cultivation fresh ginseng in 4 years old ginseng. The effect on the content of ginseng saponins and acidic polysaccharides according to paddy field and upland field cultivation methods is considered to be small. Conclusions: The paddy field cultivation method, which is more efficient in production cost due to depletion of farmland and long-distance cultivation, is considered to be an economical cultivation method.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 1981

The effects of total, protopanaxadiol-and protopanaxatriol-saponins on the in vitro activities of several enzymes in rat serum were observed Alkaline phosphatase activity was increased 61 % by total saponin and 46% by protopanaxatriol-saponin, compared to control group. While SCOT activity was slightly decreased by total saponin and protopanaxatriol- saponin, it was slightly increased by Protopanaxadiol-saponin And while SCPT activity was slightly decreased by total saponin, it was increased by protopanaxadiol-saponin and protopanaxatriol-saponin. Creatine phosphokinase activity had a tendency to be increased by protopanaxatriol-saponin. Lactate dehydrogenase activities were increased in three saponin treated groups, but those were nonignificant. Compared to the control group, lipase activity was increased by all saponin samples. It was increased 157% by total saponin The increase in lipase activity by total saponin corresponded with the decrease in serum t total lipid by total saponin .

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.107-111
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• 1990

Ginseng root explants and calli were cultured on modified Murashine and Skoog's media supplemented with different concentrations of organic or inorganic compounds and plant growth requlators to clarify the effects of chemical compositon and plant growth regulators in the medium on the growth of ginseng calli and the production of ginseng saponin. For optimum growth of ginseng calli, the concentrations of 2, 4-D and sucrose were in the range of 1 to 5 mg/l and 1 to 3%, respectively. And it was clarified that sucrose, nitrogen, phosphate, calcium, magnesium, plant growth regulators and their concentrations influcenced the relative biosynthesis of saponin in tissue cultures of Panax ginseng.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.389-415
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• 1996

Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer(Araliaceae) has been traditionally used as an expensive and precious medicine in oriental countries for more than 5, 000 years. Ginseng saponin isolated from the root of Panax ginseng have been regarded as the main effective components responsible for the pharmacological and biological activities. Such as antiaging effects. antidiabetic effects anticancer effects. Protection against physical and chemical stress. Analgesic and antipyretic effects. Effects on the central nervous system, tranquilizing action and others. Thirty kinds of ginsenosides have been so far isolated from ginseng saponin and their chemical structures have been elucidated since 1960's. Among which protopanaxadiol type is 19 kinds. protopanaxatriol type. 10 kinds and oleanane type, one. Since ginsenosides are generally labile under acidic conditions ordinary acid hydrolysis is always accompanied by many side reactions, such as epimerization. hydroxylation and cyclization of side chain of the sapogenins Especially. it is well known that C-20 glycosyl linkage of ginsenoside was hydrolysed on heating with acetic acid to give an equilibrated mixture of 20(S) and 20(R) epimers. And also, the chemical transformations of the secondary metabolites have appeared during the steaming process to prepare red ginseng. Indicating demalonylation of malonyl ginsenosides, elimination of glycosyl residue at C-20 and isomerization of hydroxyl configuration at C-20. But these studies have not provided a comprehensive picture in explaning how these ginsenosides showed val'iotas pharmacological activities of ginseng. Though some of them have been involved in the mechanism of pharmacological actions. Recently, non-saponin components have received a great deal of attention for their antioxidant, anticancer antidiabetic, immunomodulating. anticomplementary activities and so on. To meet the demand for such wide applications, studies on the non-saponin components play an important role in providing a good evidence of pharmacological and biol ogical activities. Among the non-saponin constituents of Korean ginseng, polyacetylenes, phenols. Sesquiterpenes, alkaloids. polysaccharides oligosaccharides, oligopeptides and aminoglycosides together with ginsenosides of terrestrial part are mainly described.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.160-168
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• 1997

The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of Panax ginseng saponin extracts on the dexamethasone-induced apoptosis of mouse thymus in vivo and mouse thymocytes in vitro. The saponin fractions of red ginseng (R-SAP) and white ginseng (Wl-SAP) were provided by the Korea Ginseng & Tobacco Research Institute, and the other saponin fraction of white ginseng (W2-SAP) was extracted in our laboratory. 1. The male ICR mice (3~4 wk old; weighing 15$\pm$2 g) were given by each saponin fraction of 5 mg/kg/ day for 4 days, and at one hour after the last treatment, they were injected by deuamethasone (5 mg/kg : DX). The mouse thymus was extracted at 6 hours after DX injection, and they were stained with hematoxylin-eosin reagents and an Apop-Tag kit, respectively, and the thymocytes prepared from it were labelled with anti-mouse FITC-anti-CD4 and anti-mouse PE-anti-CD8 and then analyzed by fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS). DX-induced reduction of thymus weight was significantly attenuated by W2- SAP but was not affected by other saponin fractions. And DX-induced apoptotic death of thymocytes, appeared in the histologic findings of the thymus, was inhibited by the saponin fractions and the order of these inhibitory potencies was R-SAP》W2-SAP>Wl-SAP. However, in respect of T cell receptors, the differentiation of thymocytes seems not to be changed by treatments with DX or/and the saponin fractions. 2. In the primary thymocyte culture, the DX-induced reduction of thymocyte MTT values was rather greater in RPMI 1640 medium of IWc fetal bovine serum (FBS) or horse serum (HS). In addition, the DX-Induced MTT reduction was significantly inhibited by R-SAP or W2-SAP, in the culture using that medium of 5% FBS or HS. But these saponin fraction did not effected the DX-induced reduction of thymocyte MTT value in primary culture of 10% FBS or 10% HS. These results suggest that R-SAP and some W-SAP fractions may protect thymocyte from stress or glucocorticoisteroid-induced death of them.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.130-135
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• 1987

To detect the effect of ginseng saponin on the immune response, mice were immunized with a protein antigen (gamma-globulin of chick). Blood was then drawn from them twice, after 10 days of the first immunization and after 10 days of the second immunization respectively, and measurements were made by ELISA method of the antibody titer in antiserum. In addition, mice that has been immunized with the same antigen were treated with immunosuppressor to suppress the immune system of the mice. After the immune system was suppressed, the effect of ginseng saponin on the recovery of immune response was measured by the same method. The experimental groups those were given ginseng saponin (10 mg/kg/day) showed a little variance between-individuals, however showed much higher antibody titer than the control groups those were given the saline solution. Moreover, there was a little recovery from the immune suppression. Although the mechanism of the effect of ginseng saponin on immune response was not well loom, it is believed that ginseng saponin has the effect of increasing the synthesis of serum protein together with its action as one of the immunostimulators.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.64-69
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• 2006

Gap junctional channels, allowing rapid intercellular communication and synchronization of coupled cell activities, play crucial roles in many signaling processes, including a variety of cell activities. Consequently, a modulation of the gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) should be a potential pharmacological target. In the present, the GJIC of a epithelial-derived rat mammary cells (BICR-M1Rk) was assessed in the presence of ginseng saponin, by using an established method of scrape-loading dye transfer assay. The transfer of Lucifer yellow (diameter: 1.2 nm) among the neighboring BICR-M1Rk cells, in which connexin43 (Cx43) is a major gap junction channel-forming protein, was significantly retarded at a concentration of $10{\mu}g/ml$ ginseng saponin. By using both methods of RT-PCR and Western blotting, it was demonstrated that ginseng saponin modulated neither the mRNA synthesis of Cx43 nor the translational process of Cx43. This ginseng saponin-induced modification of GJIC was a similar phenomenon observed under the $\beta$-glycyrrhetinic acid treatment, a well-known gap junction channel blocker. Taken together, it is reasonable to conclude that the ginseng saponin inhibits GJIC only by modulating the gating property of gap junction channels.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.7-11
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• 1985

In order to investigate the biological activity of ginseng saponins, the effects of ginseng saponins on the reaction catalyzed by bacterial a-amylase were studied and the results obtained were summerized as follows. Bacterial ${\alpha}$-amylase activity was increased by the addition of protopanaxadiol (diol), protopanaxatriol (triol) and total saponin. Preincubation of ${\alpha}$-amylase with diol saponin at $40^{\circ}C$ for 3 min increased ${\alpha}$-amylase activity to the degree of 120%. In the protective effect on the heat denaturation of the enzyme, triol saponin protected the heat denaturation for 5 min at $60^{\circ}C$, but diol saponin accelerated the heat denaturation. The hydrolyzates of diol and triol saponin increased the enzyme activity more than the intact diol and triol saponin. In the catalysis system of bacterial ${\alpha}$-amylase, the addition of diol and triol saponin reduced the substrate inhibition in the presence of high concentration of the substrate.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.527-537
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• 2020

Panax ginseng, a medicinal plant, has been used as a blood-nourishing tonic for thousands of years in Asia, including Korea and China. P. ginseng exhibits adaptogen activity that maintains homeostasis by restoring general biological functions and non-specifically enhancing the body's resistance to external stress. Several P. ginseng effects have been reported. Korean Red Ginseng, in particular, has been reported in both basic and clinical studies to possess diverse effects such as enhanced immunity, fatigue relief, memory, blood circulation, and anti-oxidation. Moreover, it also protects against menopausal symptoms, cancer, cardiac diseases, and neurological disorders. The active components found in most Korean Red Ginseng varieties are known to include ginsenosides, polysaccharides, peptides, alkaloids, polyacetylene, and phenolic compounds. In this review, the identity and bioactivity of the non-saponin components of Korean Red Ginseng discovered to date are evaluated and the components are classified into polysaccharide and nitrogen compounds (protein, peptide, amino acid, nucleic acid, and alkaloid), as well as fat-soluble components such as polyacetylene, phenols, essential oils, and phytosterols. The distinct bioactivity of Korean Red Ginseng was found to originate from both saponin and non-saponin components rather than from only one or two specific components. Therefore, it is important to consider saponin and non-saponin elements together.