• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.274-283
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• 1998

It has generally been accepted that quality of ginseng should be determined not by the content of a single component but by composition and balance of total active principles. However, there still can be an exception with a product in which a given ginsenoside is used for the treatment of a specific disease. Although ginsenosides have been regarded to be major active components of ginseng and employed as index components for the quality control, it does not consistent with the traditional concept on ginseng quality creterion; main root has been more highly appreciated than the lateral or fine root. Content of ginsenosides in the lateral or fine root is much higher than that in main root. However, the ratio of protopanaxadiol (PD) and protopanaxatriol (PT) saponins existing in various part of ginseng root is greatly different. The ratio of PD/PT saponins in main root is well balanced but the thinner the root is the higher the ratio. Thus far, a total of 34 different kinds of ginsenosides have been isolated from Korean (red) ginseng, and their pharmacological activities were elucidated partly. Interestingly, different ginsenoside shows similar or contrary effects to each other in biological systems, thus indicating the significance of absolute content of single ginsenoside as well as compositional patterns of each ginsenoside. Therefore, pharmacological activities of ginseng should be determined as a wholly concept. In these regards, standardization of ginseng material (fresh ginseng root) should be preceded to the standardization of ginseng products because ginsenoside content and non-saponin active principles such as polysaccharides and nitrogen (N)-containing compound including proteins are significantly different from part to part of the root. In other words, the main root contains less ginsenosides than other lateral or fine roots. Contents of polysaccharides and N-containing compound in main root is higher. However, the quality control of ginseng products focused on non-saponin compounds has limitation in applying to the analytical method, because of the difficult chemical analysis of these compounds. Content of ginsenosides, and ratios of PD/PT and ginsenoside Rb,/Rg, are inversely proportional to the diameter of ginseng root. Therefore, these can be served as the chemical parameters for the indirect method of evaluating from what part of the root does the material originate. Furthermore, contents of polysaccharides and N-containing compounds show inverse relationship to saponin content. Therefore, it seems that index for analytical chemistry of saponin can be applied to the indirect method of evaluating not only saponin but also non-saponin compounds of ginseng. From these viewpoints, it is strongly recommended that quality of ginseng or ginseng products be judged not only by the absolute content of given ginsenoside but also by varieties and compositional balance of ginsenosides, including contents of non-saponin active principles.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.165-174
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• 1994

To investigate the significant indicators Improving the undisturbed memory in animal behavior, we employed several behavioral methods (learning, relearning in radial maze, and active avoidance) with ginseng components. Results showed that the repeated intranasal administration of $Rb_1$ and total saponins from Korean red ginseng induced direct effects on the brain mechanisms in rats, and improved the spatial memory during the learning, relearning and retention in the 12-arm radial maze test. The intranasal treatment of the total saponins also effectively improved the disturbed memory (amnesia) by pentylentetrazole, and simultaneously protected the brain by decreasing the severity of motor epileptic seizures. The intraperitonial administration of polysaccharide fraction of Korean red ginseng could improve avoidance behavior (amount of the total ecapes) in the active-avoidance test. In addition, local changes of the temperature and resistance of skin observed after Rb, administration were suggested to reflect some action of sympathetic nerve Key words Memory, intranasal administration, pentylenetetrazole, Korea red ginseng.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.256-263
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• 1985

In order to investigate the inferior factor of red ginseng quality, the contents of various chemical components, physico-chemical properties and arrangement state of ginseng cells were observed. Contents of total reducing sugar, reducing sugar, crude protein, crude fibre and specific gravity of inside white part of red ginseng were less than those of normal part. But differences in content of crude saponin, HPLC pattern of ginsenosides and reducing ability for DP P H(1,1-dipheny 1-2-picrylhydrazyl) between normal and inside white part of red ginseng were not found. The optical density of 1 water extract of normal part of red ginseng did not differ from that of inside white 1 part of red ginseng, but the visible and UV absorbance of acid hydrolyzate of normal red ginseng showed higher than those of inside white part of red ginseng. The differences in the internal color and tissue of normal and inside white part of red ginseng were easily found with naked eye, and by the microscopic fractography, the orangement state of ginseng cell in the inside white part of red ginseng was less dense than that in normal red ginseng.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.310-315
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• 1998

The effect of red ginseng saponins (total saponins, Rbl- and Rgl- fraction of saponins) on the induction of $\beta$-galactosidase in yeast, hccharomyces cereuisiae, was investigated to see that ginseng saponins would penetrate the cell membrane and have a function in a nucleus as steroid hormones do. To attain such a kind of purpose, a DNA fragment (685bp) containing GALI promoter was inserted into the sites of EcoRl and BamHl of polylinker region, upstream of lace gene of the plasmid YEp356 (7.966 Kb), and thus the resulting plasmid pGALl-lacZ is supposed to express $\beta$- galactosidase only in the presence of galactose. The plasmid pGALl -lacZ was introduced into yeast, Ky106 (a leu2 ura3 his3 trp 1 Iys2), and the growth of the transformed cells was much slower in the presence of galactose than glucose. The effects of saponins on the specific activity of P-galactosidase from transformed yeast cells were detected. No significant increase was observed in case of total saponins, but the Rbl- or Rgl- fraction of saponins gave much higher increase in the activity. Maximum increase was observed as 35% in 10-3% of Rbl and as 75% in 10-1% of Rgl. These data suggest that ginseng saponins might be able to enter the nucleus and stimulate transcription. However, further studies to find out the putative saponin receptor are needed to confirm this possibility. Key words : Red ginseng saponin, $\beta$-galactosidase induction, Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.62-72
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• 1995

During the controlled atmosphere storage (CA), fresh ginseng showed good appearance in quality, and other deterioration of freshness was not observed until 12 weeks. On the other hand, MA storage had kept freshness only in treatment of 1 until 8 weeks. There was no significant difference between treated and non-treated sample with preservatives, and not treated sample was not infected with various different fungi. Moisture contents and hardness of ginseng in all treatments were not changed much until 12 weeks, and surface shrinkage did not occur either. But shear stress increased somewhat in all treatments after 12 weeks. The granule of microstructure in tissue diminished slightly. The apparent Quality of red ginseng was good until 4 weeks of treatment. But as time passed, white skin and wrinkled skin were generated and darkened in its color. B-1 in CA and E-1 in MA were found to be the most favorable one. The content of crude saponin did not change significantly during storage of CA or MA by preservation conditions and period. Though a small increase in saponin content from 4.92% to 5.43% was recognized in B-1, which was treated with preservative and 6.0% In B-2, control, this could rather explain increment of soluble component by butanol. Thus, there was no change in total contents of ginsenoside pattern and composition of each content. The Rbl content in B-1 and B-2 were 0.98%, and 0.97%, respectively, whereas that of control was 0.96%. E-1 of MA, treated with preservative was 5.32% after 12 weeks, but was 5.73% in control, indicating that ginsenosides pattern was quite similar to that of CA storage.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2006

This study was carried out to investigate the protective effect of crude saponin from red ginseng efflux (RGE-CS) on biochemical parameters in male rats acutely exposed to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-$\rho$-dioxin (TCDD). Forty male rats ($200{\pm}20g$) were divided into 4 groups. Normal control group (NC) received vehicle and saline; only TCDD-treated group (TT) received TCDD ($5{\mu}g/kg$, single dose) intrperitoneally; RGE-CS 20 received 20 mg/kg of crude saponin i.p. for 4 weeks from 1 week before TCDD-exposure; RGE-CS 40 also received 40 mg/kg of crude saponin i.p. for 4 weeks from 1 week before TCDD-exposure. Body weight of TT group was significantly decreased after TCDD-exposure. However, body weight of crude saponin groups increased throughout the experimental period, although the increasing rate was slower than that of NC group. Decrease in body weight was not observed during the experimental period in RGE-CS 40. Increases in triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), AST, ALT and $Fe^{2+}$ levels by TCDD intoxication were significantly attenuated by the RGE-CS treatment. Decrease in glucose, amylase, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatinine kinase (CK) by TCDD also were inhibited by the RGE-CS. These results suggest that saponin from red-ginseng efflux might be a useful protective agent against TCDD, an endocrine disrupter.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.265-270
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• 1985

The saponin yield and its compositional changes of red ginseng extract (RG-EXT) was investigated during extraction at various temperature for 5 times of 8 hours. The higher temperature resulted an increase in solids yield while the total saponin recovered was decreased, particularly at $100^{\circ}C$. A relatively lower thermal stability was found for protopanaxadiol saponin, one of the saponin fractions, than protopanaxatriol saponin. The compositional ratio of saponin at ginsenoside level was little affected by extraction time. The yields data showed that more than 94% of total saponin was recovered by 3$\sim$4 times of 8 hours extraction. Extraction at $80^{\circ}C$ for 4 times of 8 hours were suggested for preparation of RG-EXT from the result of this work.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.173-178
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• 1996

Aerobic cells are normally protected from the damage of free radicals by antioxidative on , zymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, glutathione (GSH) peroxidase, GSH S- transferase and GSH reductase which scavenge free radicals as well as nonenzymatic antioxidants such as ceruloplasmin, albumin and nonprotein-SH including GSH. The effects of each component (ginsenoside $Rb_1$, $Rb_2$, Rc, Rd, Re, $Rb_1$, Rf, $Rh_1$ and $Rh_2$) of red ginseng on the antioxidative enzyme activities were investigated in the liver in order to screen antioxidative components of red ginseng. Ginsenoside $Rb_1$ and Rc showed a tendency to increase GSH peroxidase activity, while ginsenoside Rc significantly decreased Cu,Zn-SOD activity. Especially, ginsenoside $Rh_2$ significantly increased catalase activity. These results suggest that ginsenoside $Rh_2$ is an important active component among total saponins of red ginseng.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.111-119
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• 2004

The renoprotective effects of Korean Red Ginseng were examined in STZ-induced diabetic spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). After 3 day administration of streptozotocin (STZ), animals were divided into four groups : Group 1, hypertensive rats (H); Group 2, hypertensive rats with diabetes (HD); Group 3, hypertensive rats with diabetes administered with 100 mg/kg of ginseng total saponin(GTS); Group 4, hypertensive rats with diabetes administered with 600 mg/kg of ginseng non-saponin (GNS). After 2 weeks oral administraions of GTS and GNS, body weight, kidney weight, plasma glucose, urinary albumin excretion, serum creatinine, urea nitrogen and blood pressure were examined. After 3,7 and 21 day of STZ administration, expressions of TGF-${\beta}$1 and fibronectin in kidney were analyzed by immunoblotting and/or immunohistochemistry. GTS and GNS treatments slightly decreased blood pressure when compared to H and HD groups. Also, GTS and GNS treatments ameliorated kidney hypertrophy without affecting plasma glucose levels. Meanwhile, GNS treatment increased Cu/Zn-SOD activity in kidney and generally showed more efficient renoprotective effects than GTS. We suggest that the renoprotective effects of ginseng partially result from downregulations of TGF-${\beta}$1, fibronectin expressions and anti-oxidative activity of ginseng non-saponin.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.227-231
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• 1985

The effect of ethanol concentration on saponin composition of red ginseng extract was studied during extraction at $80^{\circ}C$ for 5 times of 8 hours. The increase in ethanol concentration from 0% to 90% resulted a gradual reduction in solids yield and an increase in the recovery of total ginsenosides. All of the ginsenosides determined were also significantly increased, but ginsenoside-$Rb_1.$-$Rb_2$ and -Rd were relatively decreased a little by raising the concentration 70% to 90%. The yield ratio of protopanaxadiol/protopanaxatriol saponin were in the range of 1.69${\sim}$1.95. No significant improvement in pure saponin yield was observed between 70% and 90% ethanol. Extraction with 70% ethanol was suggested for preparation of red ginseng extract from the result of this work.