Ginseng has been traditionally used for several millennia in Asian countries including Korea, China, and Japan, not only as a nourishing and tonifying agent but also as a therapeutic agent for a variety of diseases. In recent years, the various effects of red ginseng including immunity improvement, fatigue relief, memory improvement, blood circulation improvement, anti-oxidation, mitigation of menopausal women’s symptoms, and anti-cancer have been reported in clinical as well as basic research. Around the world, there is a trend of the rising consumption of health functional foods on the level of disease prevention along with increased interest in maintaining health because of population aging and the awareness of lifestyle diseases and chronic diseases.

The ginsenoside Rg3, one of active components of red ginseng, has chemopreventive and anti-cancer potential. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) retain self-renewal properties which account for cancer recurrence and resistance to anti-cancer therapy. In our present study, we investigated whether Rg3 as well as the standardized Korean red ginseng extract (RGE) could modulate the manifestation of breast cancer stem-like features through regulation of self-renewal activity.

Ginsenoside Rb1, a triterpene saponin, is derived from the Panax ginseng root and has potent anti-inflammatory activity. In this study, we determined if Rb1 can increase macrophage phagocytosis, and elucidated the underlying mechanisms.

As the main metabolites of ginsenosides, 20(S, R)-protopanaxadiol (PPD(S, R)) and 20(S, R)-protopanaxatriol (PPT(S, R)) are the structural basis response to a series of pharmacological effects of their parent components. Although the estrogenicity of several ginsenosides has been confirmed, however, the underlying mechanisms of their estrogenic effects are still largely unclear. In this work, PPD(S, R) and PPT(S, R) were assessed for their ability to bind and activate human estrogen receptor α (hERα) by a combination of in vitro and in silico analysis.

The ginsenoside Rg1 has been shown to exert various pharmacological activities with health benefits. Previously, we have reported that Rg1 promoted myogenic differentiation and myotube growth in C2C12 myoblasts. In this study, the in vivo effect of Rg1 on fiber type composition and oxidative metabolism in skeletal muscle was examined.