• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.60-71
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• 2004

Objectives : We have examined the relaxational response to the water extract of genus Panax in rat thoracic aorta and mesenteric artery. Methods : Segments of thoracic aorta and mesenteric artery obtained from rats immediately after delivery were mounted in organ baths superfused on a polygraph. Results : We found that the thoracic aorta segments responded to the water extract of genus Panax with a dose-dependent vasorelaxation. At $10^{-5}m$ 5-hydroxytrptamine (5-HT), the maximal contraction force were 94.9% of the maximum KCl-response. At $10^{-5}m$ 5-HT - induced contraction, The contractile response of thoracic aortic rings were inhibited by 54.7%, 36.3% and 31.3% after addition of the high concentration (100 mg/ml) of water extract of Panax ginseng, Panax japonicus and Panax quinquefolium. The contractile response of mesenteric arteries were inhibited by 88.3%, 87.7%, and 70.3% after addition of the high concentration (100 mg/ml) of water extract of Panax ginseng, Panax japonicus and Panax quinquefolium. Conclusions : In conclusion, water extract of genus Panax - induced relaxation in the isolated rat thoracic aorta and mesenteric artery were composed of endothelium - independent relaxation and dose - dependent relaxation.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.183-192
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• 2023

Viral infections are known as one of the major factors causing death. Ginseng is a medicinal plant that demonstrated a wide range of antiviral potential, and saponins are the major bioactive ingredients in the genus Panax with vast therapeutic potential. Studies focusing on the antiviral activity of the genus Panax plant-derived agents (extracts and saponins) and their mechanisms were identified and summarized, including contributions mainly from January 2016 until January 2022. P. ginseng, P. notoginseng, and P. quinquefolius were included in the review as valuable medicinal herbs against infections with 14 types of viruses. Reports from 9 extracts and 12 bioactive saponins were included, with 6 types of protopanaxadiol (PPD) ginsenosides and 6 types of protopanaxatriol (PPT) ginsenosides. The mechanisms mainly involved the inhibition of viral attachment and replication, the modulation of immune response by regulating signaling pathways, including the Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) pathway, cystathionine γ-lyase (CSE)/hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) pathway, phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 (PDK1)/ protein kinase B (Akt) signaling pathway, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)/activator protein-1 (AP-1) pathway, and nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) pathway. This review includes detailed information about the mentioned antiviral effects of the genus Panax extracts and saponins in vitro and in vivo, and in human clinical trials, which provides a scientific basis for ginseng as an adjunctive therapeutic drug or nutraceutical.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.144-166
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• 2013

Actoprotectors are preparations that increase the mental performance and enhance body stability against physical loads without increasing oxygen consumption. Actoprotectors are regarded as a subclass of adaptogens that hold a significant capacity to increase physical performance. The focus of this article is studying adaptogen herbs of genus Panax (P. ginseng in particular) and their capabilities as actoprotectors. Some animal experiments and human studies about actoprotective properties of genus Panax attest that P. ginseng (administered as an extract) significantly increased the physical and intellectual work capacities, and the data provided suggests that ginseng is a natural source of actoprotectors. Preparations of ginseng can be regarded as potential actoprotectors which give way to further research of its influence on physical and mental work capacity, endurance and restoration after exhaustive physical loads while compared with reference actoprotectors.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.85.1-85.1
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• 2003

Previously, we found the operon random primer (OP-5A) that is characteristic the genus Panax by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. However, OP-5A primer is limited to apply on the differentiation of only crude herbal plants. To construct more sensitive and unique primers on the genus Panax, ginseng-specific DNA profile (350 bp) that was amplified by OP-5A primer were inserted in a plasmid vector in the TA cloning method and sequenced. We designed the PCR primers (Forward: 5＂-AGGGGTCTTGCTAT AGCGGAAC-3＂, Reverse: 5＂-AGTCTTAATTTCATATTTTCGTATG-3＂) and identified the unique ginseng band (350 bp) in commercial granule products including ginseng extracts as well as crude ginseng plants by nascent PCR.(omitted)

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.601-605
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• 2003

Traditional taxonomic methods used for the identification and differentiation of ginsengs rely primarily on morphological observations or physiochemical methods, which cannot be used efficiently when only powdered forms or shredded material is available. Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was used to determine the unique DNA profiles that are characteristic not only of the genus Panax but also of various Panax subgroups collected from five different countries. RAPD results of OP-5A primer showed a specific single band that is characteristic of all ginseng samples. RAPD results of OP-13B primer demonstrated that OP-13B primer could be used as a unique RAPD marker to differentiate Panax species. These results support that this approach could be applied to distinguish Korean Ginseng (Panax ginseng) from others at the molecular level.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.82-93
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• 2004

Phylogenetic relationships among species in Araliaceae were analyzed using PCR-RAPD and sequence of ITS region of nuclear ribosomal DNA based on samples collected in Korea. RAPD analysis showed various polymorphic bands which were able to differentiate species and genus, and specific bands showing variations among individuals within species. Cluster analysis using gel images revealed high molecular variability within species of Aralia eleta. No significant variation was found among cultivated species of Panax ginseng, but they showed high genetic differences with wild type of the species. In ITS analysis, specific sequences for each genus and species were observed and these were allowed to differentiate species and genus. Phylogenetic analysis using ITS sequences showed that Acanthopanax and Kalopanax had a close relationship, and Aralia and Panax are monophyletic, but genus Hedera is different species from other species in family Araliaceae in this study. The results showing close relationship between genera Aralia and Panax were also observed in RAPD analysis. Contrary to the results of RAPD analysis of Panax ginseng, sequence analysis of ITS showed no significant difference between wild mountain ginseng and cultivated species of P. ginseng. Also, both RAPD and ITS analysis of P. ginseng showed no significant genetic variability among cultivation sites. Results indicate that P. ginseng cultivating in Korea is monophyletic. The molecular analysis used in this study agreed on classification using morphological feature. These results suggest that molecular techniques used in this study could be useful for phylogenetic analysis of Araliaceae.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 1983

Nucleobases and nucleosides in Panax and Acanthopanax genus were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. Chromatography was performed on a reversed-phase system with ${\mu}$ Bondapak $C_{18}$ column using phosphate buffer and 80% methanol gradient. Content of each nucleobase in two genera was about 0-2mg/100g. Panax was contained guanosine and/or adenosine ca. 15-22mg/100g;and Acanthopanax guanosine ca. 3-8mg/100g and adenosine ca. 2-7mg/100g. Considerable amounts of cytidine, uridine, inosine, and thymidine were also detected in two genera.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.55-60
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• 2001

Ginseng (Panax genus) is one of the most medicinally important genera and consists of highly regarded medicines. Among the species of Panax, the ginseng species is widely known to have most medicinal quality. P. ginseng has 3 varieties, Jakyung, Chunggyung and Hwangsook, discovered in nature with different colors of stem and fruit, Jakyung has two cultivars, Yunpoong and Chunpoong. Rigorous phylogenetic analysis of these varieties and cultivars has been conducted with sequencing of rDNA region. The sequences of ITS1, ITS2 of every varieties and cultivars within P. ginseng were identical. The sequence of 5.8S rDNAs of Hwangsook variety were different from the sequences of 5.8S rDNAs of others by only one base pair at nucleotide position 14. In phylogenetic analysis and predicted RNA secondary structure study, it is assumed that evolution has proceeded from Hwangsook to other varieties. recently.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.287-298
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• 2015

Ginseng, a perennial plant belonging to the genus Panax of the Araliaceae family, is well known for its medicinal properties that help alleviate pathological symptoms, promote health, and prevent potential diseases. Among the active ingredients of ginseng are saponins, most of which are glycosides of triterpenoid aglycones. So far, numerous saponins have been reported as components of Panax ginseng, also known as Korean ginseng. Herein, we summarize available information about 112 saponins related to P. ginseng; >80 of them are isolated from raw or processed ginseng, and the others are acid/base hydrolysates, semisynthetic saponins, or metabolites.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2014

Discriminating between two herbal medicines (Panax ginseng and Panax quinquefolius), with similar chemical and physical properties but different therapeutic effects, is a very serious and difficult problem. Differentiation between two processed ginseng genera is even more difficult because the characteristics of their appearance are very similar. An ultraperformance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF MS)-based metabolomic technique was applied for the metabolite profiling of 40 processed P. ginseng and processed P. quinquefolius. Currently known biomarkers such as ginsenoside Rf and F11 have been used for the analysis using the UPLC-photodiode array detector. However, this method was not able to fully discriminate between the two processed ginseng genera. Thus, an optimized UPLC-QTOF-based metabolic profiling method was adapted for the analysis and evaluation of two processed ginseng genera. As a result, all known biomarkers were identified by the proposed metabolomics, and additional potential biomarkers were extracted from the huge amounts of global analysis data. Therefore, it is expected that such metabolomics techniques would be widely applied to the ginseng research field.