• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.73-78
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to develop a new preparation process of ginseng (Panax ginseng) flower buds extracts featuring high concentration of ginsenosides Rg2, Rg3, Rg5, F4 and Rh1, red ginseng special components. Chemical transformation from ginseng saponin glycosides to prosapogenin was analyzed by the HPLC. Extracts of ginseng flower buds were processed under several treatment conditions of ultrasonication (at $100^{\circ}C$). The results showed that the quantity of ginsenoside Rg6 increased by over 8.8% at the 16 hours of ultrasonication. Ginseng flower buds ethanol extract compared with other process times. The result of UGF-16 indicates that the ultrasonication processed ginseng flower buds extracts (at $100^{\circ}C$) treated for 16 hours produced the highest amount of ginsenoside F4 (8.833%), Rg3 (2.230%), Rg5 (2.339%) and Rg2 (1.002%).

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.180-187
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• 2017

Background: The incidence of halitosis has a prevalence of 22-50% throughout the world and is generally caused by anaerobic oral microorganisms, such as Fusobacterium nucleatum, Clostridium perfringens, and Porphyromonas gingivalis. Previous investigations on the structure-activity relationships of ginsenosides have led to contrasting results. Particularly, the antibacterial activity of less polar ginsenosides against halitosis-related bacteria has not been reported. Methods: Crude saponins extracted from the Panax quinquefolius leaf-stem (AGS) were treated at $130^{\circ}C$ for 3 h to obtain heat-transformed saponins (HTS). Five ginsenoside-enriched fractions (HTS-1, HTS-2, HTS-3, HTS-4, and HTS-5) and less polar ginsenosides were separated by HP-20 resin absorption and HPLC, and the antimicrobial activity and mechanism were investigated. Results: HPLC with diode-array detection analysis revealed that heat treatment induced an extensive conversion of polar ginsenosides (-Rg1/Re, -Rc, -Rb2, and -Rd) to less polar compounds (-Rg2, -Rg3, -Rg6, -F4, -Rg5, and -Rk1). The antimicrobial assays showed that HTS, HTS-3, and HTS-4 were effective at inhibiting the growth of F. nucleatum, C. perfringens, and P. gingivalis. Ginsenosides-Rg5 showed the best antimicrobial activity against the three bacteria, with the lowest values of minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration. One major reason for this result is that less polar ginsenosides can more easily damage membrane integrity. Conclusion: The results indicated that the less polar ginsenoside-enriched fraction from heat transformation can be used as an antibacterial agent to control halitosis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.1661-1667
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• 2016

The ginsenoside-hydrolyzing β-glucosidase gene (bgy2) was cloned from Lactobacillus brevis. We expressed this gene in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3), isolated the resulting protein, and then utilized the enzyme for the biotransformation of ginsenosides. The bgy2 gene contains 2,223 bp, and encodes a protein of 741 amino acids that is a member of glycosyl hydrolase family 3. β-Glucosidase (Bgy2) cleaved the outer glucose moieties of ginsenosides at the C-20 position, and the inner glucose at the C-3 position. Under optimal conditions (pH 7.0, 30℃), we used 0.1 mg/ml Bgy2 in 20 mM sodium phosphate buffer (PBS) for enzymatic studies. In these conditions, 1.0 mg/ml ginsenoside Rb1 and ginsenoside F2 were converted into 0.59 mg/ml ginsenoside Rd and 0.72mg/ml compound K, with molar conversion productivities of 69% and 91%, respectively. In pharmaceutical and commercial industries, this recombinant Bgy2 would be suitable for producting ginsenoside Rd and compound K.

• Mycobiology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.256-261
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• 2014

A ${\beta}$-glucosidase producing yeast strain was isolated from Korean traditional rice wine. Based on the sequence of the YCL008c gene and analysis of the fatty acid composition, the isolate was identified as Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain HJ-014. S. cerevisiae HJ-014 produced ginsenoside Rd, $F_2$, and compound K from the ethanol extract of red ginseng. The production was increased by shaking culture, where the bioconversion efficiency was increased 2-fold compared to standing culture. The production of ginsenoside $F_2$ and compound K was time-dependent and thought to proceed by the transformation pathway of: red ginseng extract ${\rightarrow}Rd{\rightarrow}F_2{\rightarrow}$ compound K. The optimum incubation time and concentration of red ginseng extract for the production of compound K was 96 hr and 4.5% (w/v), respectively.

• 한국약용작물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.258-259
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• 2008

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.222-229
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• 2019

Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) was processed by drying, steaming, or puffing, and the effects of these processes on the ginsenoside profile were investigated. The main root of 4-year-old raw Korean ginseng was dried to produce white ginseng. Steaming, followed by drying, was employed to produce red or black ginseng. In addition, these three varieties of processed ginseng were puffed using a rotational puffing gun. Puffed ginseng showed significantly higher extraction yields of ginsenosides (49.87-58.60 g solid extract/100 g of sample) and crude saponin content (59.40-63.87 mg saponin/g of dried ginseng) than non-puffed ginseng, respectively. Moreover, puffing effectively transformed the major ginsenosides (Rb1, Rb2, Rc, Rd, Re, and Rg1) of ginseng into minor ones (F2, Rg3, Rk1, and Rg5), comparable to the steaming process effect on the levels of the transformed ginsenosides. However, steaming takes much longer (4 to 36 days) than puffing (less than 30 min) for ginsenoside transformation. Consequently, puffing may be an effective and economical technique for enhancing the extraction yield and levels of minor ginsenosides responsible for the major biological activities of ginseng.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.246-253
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• 2021

Background: Ginseng is one of the most valuable herbal supplements. It is challenging to perform quality control of ginseng products due to the diversity of bioactive saponins in their composition. Acid or alkaline hydrolysis is often used for the structural elucidation of these saponins and sugars in their side chains. Complete transformation of the original ginsenosides into their aglycones during the hydrolysis is one of the ways to determine a total saponin group content. The main hurdle of this approach is the formation of various by-products that was reported by many authors. Methods: Separate HPLC assessment of the total protopanaxadiol, protopanaxatriol and ocotillol ginsenoside contents is a viable alternative to the determination of characteristic biomarkers of these saponin groups, such as ginsenoside Rf and pseudoginsenoside F₁₁, which are commonly used for authentication of P. ginseng Meyer and P. quinquefolius L. samples respectively. Moreover, total ginsenoside content is an ideal aggregated parameter for standardization and quality control of ginseng-based medicines, because it can be directly applied for saponin dosage calculation. Results: Different hydrolysis conditions were tested to develop accurate quantification method for the elucidation of total ginsenoside contents in herbal products. Linearity, limits of quantification, limits of detection, accuracy and precision were evaluated for the developed HPLC-MS method. Conclusion: Alkaline hydrolysis results in fewer by-products than sugar elimination in acidic conditions. An equimolar response, as a key parameter for quantification, was established for several major ginsenosides. The developed approach has shown acceptable results in the analysis of several different herbal products.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.504-511
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• 2018

Background: The biological activities of ginseng saponins (ginsenosides) are associated with type, number, and position of sugar moieties linked to aglycone skeletons. Deglycosylated minor ginsenosides are known to be more biologically active than major ginsenosides. Accordingly, the deglycosylation of major ginsenosides can provide the multibioactive effects of ginsenosides. The purpose of this study was to transform ginsenoside Rb2, one of the protopanaxadiol-type major ginsenosides, into minor ginsenosides using ${\beta}$-glycosidase (BG-1) purified from Armillaria mellea mycelium. Methods: Ginsenoside Rb2 was hydrolyzed by using BG-1; the hydrolytic properties of Rb2 by BG-1 were also characterized. In addition, the influence of reaction conditions such as reaction time, pH, and temperature, and transformation pathways of Rb2, Rd, F2, compound O (C-O), and C-Y by treatment with BG-1 were investigated. Results: BG-1 first hydrolyzes 3-O-outer ${\beta}$-$\text\tiny{D}$-glucoside of Rb2, then 3-O-${\beta}$-$\text\tiny{D}$-glucoside of C-O into C-Y. C-Y was gradually converted into C-K with a prolonged reaction time, but the pathway of Rb2 ${\rightarrow}$ Rd ${\rightarrow}$ F2 ${\rightarrow}$ C-K was not observed. The optimum reaction conditions for C-Y and C-K formation from Rb2 by BG-1 were pH 4.0-4.5, temperature $45-60^{\circ}C$, and reaction time 72-96 h. Conclusion: ${\beta}$-Glycosidase purified from A. mellea mycelium can be efficiently used to transform Rb2 into C-Y and C-K. To our best knowledge, this is the first result of transformation from Rb2 into C-Y and C-K by basidiomycete mushroom enzyme.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.369-378
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• 2018

Purpose: The aim of this study was to construct a saponin content-predicting model using shortwave infrared imaging spectroscopy. Methods: The experiment used a shortwave imaging spectrometer and ENVI spectral acquisition software sampling a spectrum of 910 nm-2500 nm. The corresponding preprocessing and mathematical modeling analysis was performed by Unscrambler 9.7 software to establish a ginsenoside nondestructive spectral testing prediction model. Results: The optimal preprocessing method was determined to be a standard normal variable transformation combined with the second-order differential method. The coefficient of determination, $R^2$, of the mathematical model established by the partial least squares method was found to be 0.9999, while the root mean squared error of prediction, RMSEP, was found to be 0.0043, and root mean squared error of calibration, RMSEC, was 0.0041. The residuals of the majority of the samples used for the prediction were between ${\pm}1$. Conclusion: The experiment showed that the predicted model featured a high correlation with real values and a good prediction result, such that this technique can be appropriately applied for the nondestructive testing of ginseng quality.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.352-359
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to develop a new preparation process of ginseng leaf and stem extracts having high concentrations of ginsenoside Rg2, Rg3, Rg5, Rh1, a special component of red and black ginseng. Chemical transformation from ginseng saponin glycosides to prosapogenin was analyzed by the HPLC. Extracts of ginseng (Panax ginseng) leaf and stem were processed under several treatment conditions including ultrasonication treatments. The content of total saponin reached their heights at 17 hr (UGL-17) of ultrasonication treatment, followed by 16 hr (UGL-16) and 7 hr (UGL-7) of ultrasonication treatment at $100^{\circ}C$. UGL-17 findings show that the ginseng leaf and stem that had been processed with ultrasonication for 17 hours peaked in the level of Rg2, Rg3 and Rh1. In addition, UGL-16 contained ginsenoside Rg5 at high concentrations. It is thought that such results provide basic information in preparing ginseng leaf and stem extracts with functionality enhanced.