• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.344-350
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• 2016

Background: Mountain-cultivated ginseng (MCG) and cultivated ginseng (CG) both belong to Panax ginseng and have similar ingredients. However, their pharmacological activities are different due to their significantly different growth environments. Methods: An ultra-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS)-based approach was developed to distinguish MCG and CG. Multivariate statistical methods, such as principal component analysis and supervised orthogonal partial-least-squares discrimination analysis were used to select the influential components. Results: Under optimized UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS conditions, 40 ginsenosides in both MCG and CG were unambiguously identified and tentatively assigned. The results showed that the characteristic components of CG and MCG included ginsenoside Ra3/isomer, gypenoside XVII, quinquenoside R1, ginsenoside Ra7, notoginsenoside Fe, ginsenoside Ra2, ginsenoside Rs6/Rs7, malonyl ginsenoside Rc, malonyl ginsenoside Rb1, malonyl ginsenoside Rb2, palmitoleic acid, and ethyl linoleate. The malony ginsenosides are abundant in CG, but higher levels of the minor ginsenosides were detected in MCG. Conclusion: This is the first time that the differences between CG and MCG have been observed systematically at the chemical level. Our results suggested that using the identified characteristic components as chemical markers to identify different ginseng products is effective and viable.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.69-75
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• 2012

Objectives : We investigated the effects of mountain cultivated ginseng water boiled extract(MCG) on blood glucose and insulin levels, and examined whether lipid metabolism are improved by it in male db/db mice(a murine model of type 2 diabetes mellitus). Methods : 9 weeks old, male db/db mice were divided into 5 groups : C57BL/6J normal, control, MCG-250mg/kg (MCG-1), MCG-500mg/kg(MCG-2) and MCG-1000mg/kg(MCG-3). After mice were treated with MCG for 8 weeks, we measured body weight, food intake, fat weight, visceral organ weight and blood glucose, insulin and lipid levels. Results : 1. We found no difference in body weight, food intake, fat weight and visceral organ weight among the animal groups. 2. Compared with controls, MCG-treated mice had lower blood glucose level and higher blood insulin levels, the magnitude of which was prominent in MCG-2. 3. Compared with controls, MCG-treated mice had lower LDL-cholesterol and higher HDL-cholesterol levels. 4. Compared with controls, MCG-treated mice had blood triglyceride and free fatty acid levels, the magnitude of which was prominent in MCG-2. 5. Blood AST and ALT concentrations were not changed by MCG, indicating MCG do not show any toxic effects. Conclusions : These results demonstrate that MCG effectively increases blood insulin level and decreases blood glucose level, blood lipid levels, and prevents and improves diabetic dyslipidemia and cardiovascular disease.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2018.04a
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• pp.5-5
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• 2018

Ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer), one of the most widely used medicinal plants in traditional oriental medicine, is used for the treatment of various diseases. It has been classified according to its cultivation environment, such as field cultivated ginseng (FCG) and mountain cultivated ginseng (MCG). However, little is known about differences in gene expression in ginseng roots between field cultivated and mountain cultivated ginseng. In order to investigate the whole transcriptome landscape of ginseng, we employed High-Throughput sequencing technologies using the Illumina HiSeqTM2500 system, and generated a large amount of sequenced transcriptome from ginseng roots. Approximately 77 million and 87 million high-quality reads were produced in the FCG and MCG roots transcriptome analyses, respectively, and we obtained 256,032 assembled unigenes with an average length of 1,171 bp by de novo assembly methods. Functional annotations of the unigenes were performed using sequence similarity comparisons against the following databases: the non-redundant nucleotide database, the InterPro domains database, the Gene Ontology Consortium database, and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway database. A total of 4,207 unigenes were assigned to specific metabolic pathways, and all of the known enzymes involved in starch and sucrose metabolism pathways were also identified in the KEGG library. This study indicated that alpha-glucan phosphorylase 1, putative pectinesterase/pectinesterase inhibitor 17, beta-amylase, and alpha-glucan phosphorylase isozyme H might be important factors involved in starch and sucrose metabolism between FCG and MCG in different environments.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.561-571
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• 2023

Background: Escalating evidence shows that ginseng possesses an antiaging potential with cognitive enhancing activity. As mountain cultivated ginseng (MCG) is cultivated without agricultural chemicals, MCG has emerged as a popular herb medicine. However, little is known about the MCG-mediated pharmacological mechanism on brain aging. Methods: As we demonstrated that glutathione peroxidase (GPx) is important for enhancing memory function in the animal model of aging, we investigated the role of MCG as a GPx inducer using GPx-1 (a major type of GPx) knockout (KO) mice. We assessed whether MCG modulates redox and cholinergic parameters, and memory function in aged GPx-1 knockout KOmice. Results: Redox burden of aged GPx-1 KO mice was more evident than that of aged wild-type (WT) mice. Alteration of Nrf2 DNA binding activity appeared to be more evident than that of NFκB DNA binding activity in aged GPx-1 KO mice. Alteration in choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity was more evident than that in acetylcholine esterase activity. MCG significantly attenuated reductions in Nrf2 system and ChAT level. MCG significantly enhanced the co-localization of Nrf2-immunoreactivity and ChAT-immunoreactivity in the same cell population. Nrf2 inhibitor brusatol significantly counteracted MCG-mediated up-regulation in ChAT level and ChAT inhibition (by k252a) significantly reduced ERK phosphorylation by MCG, suggesting that MCG might require signal cascade of Nrf2/ChAT/ERK to enhance cognition. Conclusion: GPx-1 depletion might be a prerequisite for cognitive impairment in aged animals. MCG-mediated cognition enhancement might be associated with the activations of Nrf2, ChAT, and ERK signaling cascade.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.462-470
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• 2012

Mountain cultivated ginseng (MCG) is a type of Panax ginseng C. A. Mayer, grown in the mountains by artificial seeding. In general, it has been known that the biophysical activities of MCG is greater than that of ginseng. However, the in vivo efficacy of MCG on cancer has not been studied. In this study, we investigated the anti-carcinogenic effect of MCG and ginseng using the 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol- 13-acetate (TPA) two stage mouse skin carcinogenesis model. Six weeks of female ICR mice were divided into control, MCG, and ginseng diet groups and were subjected into two different experimental protocols. In the first study, each experimental diet was fed with TPA promotion for 24 weeks. The result showed that supplementation of MCG reduced tumor incidence, tumor multiplicity, and tumor size compared to those of the control and ginseng groups. In the second study, 3 groups of mice were supplied with each diet 4 weeks before DMBA tumor initiation, until the end of experiment. The result showed that tumor incidence, tumor multiplicity, and tumor size were reduced in the ginseng diet group compared to those of the control and MCG groups. TPA-induced BrdU incorporation was also significantly reduced in the ginseng diet group. Taken together, these results suggest that MCG is chemotherapeutic, whereas ginseng has a chemopreventative effect on mouse skin cancer.

• Mycobiology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.147-151
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• 2014

We investigated the diversity of the foliar endophytes of Korean ginseng. Endophytic fungi were isolated from healthy leaves of mountain-cultivated ginseng (MCG) and field-cultivated ginseng (FCG) at 4 sites in Chungbuk Province. A total of 24 species of fungal endophytes were identified using molecular approaches. Additionally, the diversity of these endophytic fungi was compared between MCG and FCG. The major isolated endophytes were Edenia gomezpompae and Gibberella moniliformis in the MCG and FCG samples, respectively. The results suggest that ginseng endophytes have different community structures in different environments, and this understanding may prove useful in ginseng cultivation.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.64 no.4
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• pp.453-463
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• 2021

This study investigated that comparison of the nutrients (including fatty acids, amino acids, and minerals) and ginsenoside, total phenolic (TP) and total flavonoid (TF) contents and antioxidant activities in 5-year-old cultivated ginseng (CG), mountain-cultivated ginseng (MCG), and whole plant parts of MCG (WPMCG). The contents of total fatty acids and unsaturated fatty acids were determined highest in MCG (1215.9 and 751.2 mg/100 g), and saturated fatty acid was determined highest in WPMCG (486.4 mg/100 g) respectively. Characteristically, the α-linolenic acid content was detected up to 10 times higher in MCG (139.3 mg/100 g) and WPMCG (194.4 mg/100 g) compared to CG (18.1 mg/100 g). Total free and essential amino acid contents were high with CG < MCG < WPMCG (1006.35 mg/100 g and 839.46 mg/100 g). Notably, γ-aminobutyric acid and arginine were detected as the main non-essential amino acids with highest levels detected in WPMCG (163.10 mg/100 g) and MCG (305.23 mg/100 g), respectively. Total mineral content was high in CG (30.36 mg/100 g) and WPMCG (29.82 mg/100 g). Particularly, Calcium (Ca) was detected more than twice as high in WPMCG (6.68 mg/100 g) as compared to CG and MCG. TP and TF contents were 5.12 gallic acid mg/g and 3.04 RE mg/g respectively. Ginsenoside content was the highest in WPMCG (42.44 mg/g) in general and the highest antioxidant activity was also observed in WPMCG.