Abstract: Panax ginseng has distinct and impressive health benefits, such as improved blood pressure and immune system functioning. Rg3-enriched Korean red ginseng (REKRG) isolated from Korean red ginseng contains a high percentage of Rg3. In this study, we examined the effects of REKRG on eNOS activation and adhesion molecules in endothelial cells and vascular function in rats. REKRG dose-dependently increased endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) phosphorylation and nitric oxide (NO) production in endothelial cells. In addition, REKRG markedly inhibited the TNF-α-mediated induction of intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 expressions in endothelial cells. REKRG improved endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation in Wistar-Kyoto rat (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) compared with controls. Furthermore, REKRG treatment for 6 weeks increased serum NO levels and reduced the mean aortic intima-media thickness compared with controls. Taken together, these results suggest that REKRG increased vascular function and improved immune system functioning. Therefore, REKRG is a very useful food for preventing or improving various cardiovascular diseases.

Abstract: Background: Korean Red Ginseng is known to have anti-anxiety properties. This study was conducted to investigate the anxiolytic effects of Korean Red Ginseng extract (KRGE) during ethanol withdrawal (EW) and the involvement of the mesoamygdaloid dopamine (DA) system in it.Methods: Rats were treated with 3 g/kg/day of ethanol for 28 days, and subjected to three days of withdrawal. During EW, KRGE (20 mg/kg/day or 60 mg/kg/day, p.o.) was given to rats once a day for three days. Thirty minutes after the final dose of KRGE, anxiety-like behavior was evaluated in an elevated plus maze (EPM), and plasma corticosterone (CORT) levels were determined by a radioimmunoassay (RIA). In addition, concentrations of DA and 3, 4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) were also measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).Results: The EPM test and RIA revealed KRGE inhibited anxiety-like behavior and the over secretion of plasma CORT during EW. Furthermore, the behavioral effect was blocked by a selective dopamine D2 receptor antagonist (eticlopride) but not by a selective dopamine D1 receptor antagonist (SCH23390). HPLC analyses showed KRGE reversed EW-induced decreases of DA and DOPAC in a dose-dependent way. Additionally, western blotting and real-time polymerase chain reaction assays showed KRGE prevented the EW-induced reductions in tyrosine hydroxylase protein expression in the CeA and tyrosine hydroxylase mRNA expression in the ventral tegmental area.Conclusions: These results suggest KRGE has anxiolytic effects during EW by improving the mesoamygdaloid DA system.

Abstract: Background: Panax ginseng Meyer is a traditional medicinal plant famous for its strong therapeutic effects and serves as an important herbal medicine. To understand and manipulate genes involved in secondary metabolic pathways including ginsenosides, transcriptome profiling of P. ginseng is essential.Methods: RNA-seq analysis of adventitious roots of two P. ginseng cultivars, Chunpoong (CP) and Cheongsun (CS), was performed using Illumina HiSeq platform. After transcript was assembled, expression profiling was performed.Results: The assemblies were generated from ∼85 and ∼77 million high-quality reads from CP and CS cultivars, respectively. A total of 35,527 and 27,716 transcripts were obtained from the CP and CS assemblies, respectively. Annotation of the transcriptomes showed that approximately 90% of the transcripts had significant matches in public databases. We identified several candidate genes involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis. In addition, a large number of transcripts (17%) with different GO designations were uniquely detected in adventitious roots compared to normal ginseng roots.Conclusion: This study will provide comprehensive insight into transcriptome of ginseng adventitious roots and a way for successful transcriptome analysis and profiling of resources plants with less genomics information. The transcriptome profiling data generated in this study are available in our newly created adventitious root transcriptome database (http://im-crop.snu.ac.kr/transdb/index.php) for public use.

Abstract: Ginseng leaves/stems extract produced by subcritical water (SW) extraction at high temperature (190°C) possessed higher cytotoxic activity against human cancer cell lines than ethanol extract. SW extraction can be a great candidate for extraction of functional substance from ginseng leaves/stems.

Abstract: The actin cytoskeleton in the podocyte are essential for the maintenance of its normal structure and function, that disruption thereof is a feature of podocyte foot process effacement and is associated with proteinuria. α-Actinin-4 in podocytes serves as a linker protein binding actin filaments of cytoskeleton. To investigate the effect of ginseng total saponin (GTS) on the pathologic changes of podocyte α-actinin-4 induced by diabetic conditions, we cultured mouse podocytes under normal glucose (5 mM) or high glucose (HG, 30 mM), and advanced glycosylation end products (AGE) or not added conditions, and treated with GTS. In confocal imaging, α-actinin-4 colocalized with the ends of F-actin fibers in cytoplasm, however, diabetic conditions disrupted F-actin fibers and concentrated α-actinin-4 molecules at peripheral cytoplasm. GTS upregulated α-actinin protein in time- and dose-dependent manners, and suppressed receptor for AGE levels in Western blotting. Diabetic conditions, including HG, AGE, and both, decreased cellular α-actinin-4 protein levels at 24 and 48 h. Such quantitative and qualitative changes of α-actinin-4 protein induced by diabetic conditions were mitigated by GTS. These findings imply that both HG and AGE have an influence on the distribution and amount of α-actinin-4 of podocytes, which can be recovered by GTS.

Jilin Province is one of the principal production bases of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in China with its typical preponderance in TCM resources, research and development power and industrialization capacity. The province has 2,790 species of TCM materials in total. Over 20% of the TCM materials in common use are from Jilin Province. The province has established 36 Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) bases for 22 typical TCMs. The overall situation, in terms of collection, processing and preparation, and the implementation of GAP of TCM materials in Jilin Province were summarized.

Abstract: Ginsenosides, the major ingredients of Panax ginseng, have been under investigation for many decades due to a wide range of pharmacological activities in Asian countries. The less polar ginsenosides having one or two sugar residues are not present in nature and produced in the manufacturing process including heating, steaming, acid hydrolysis and enzyme reactions. Up to now, the 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopic data for identification of the less polar ginsenosides are often not available or scattered. We isolated 21 compounds including 10 pairs of 20(S) and 20(R) less polar ginsenosides (1-20), and an oleanane-type triterpene (21) from the processed ginseng preparation and tried to provide the complete 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopic data of the following compounds 1-21 for the rapid identification; 20(S)-ginsenosides Rh2 (1), 20(R)-Rh2 (2), 20(S)-Rg3 (3), 20(R)-Rg3 (4), 6′-O-acetyl-20(S)-Rh2 (20(S)-AcetylRh2) (5), 20(R)-AcetylRh2 (6), 25-hydroxy-20(S)-Rh2 (7), 25-hydroxy-20(S)-Rh2 (8), 20(S)-Rh1 (9), 20(R)-Rh1 (10), 20(S)-Rg2 (11), 20(R)-Rg2 (12), 25-hydroxy-20(S)-Rh1 (13), 25-hydroxy-20(R)-Rh1 (14), 20(S)-AcetylRg2 (15), 20(R)-AcetylRg2 (16), Rh4 (17), Rg5 (18), Rk1 (19), 25-hydroxy-Rh4 (20), and oleanolic acid 28-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (21).

Abstract: In this study, we examined the effects of various enzymes on chemical conversions of ginsenosides in ginseng extract prepared by amylases. Rapidase, Econase CE, Viscozyme, Ultraflo L, and Cytolase PCL5 were used for secondary enzymatic hydrolysis after amylase treatment of ginseng extract, and ginsenoside contents, skin permeability, and chemical compositions including total sugar, acidic polysaccharide, and polyphenols were determined on the hydrolyzed ginseng extract. Rapidase treatment significantly elevated total ginsenoside contents compared with a control (p

Abstract: Background: The effect of methyl jasmonate (MJ) on ginsenoside production in different organs of ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) was evaluated after the whole plant was dipped in an MJ-containing solution. MJ can induce the production of antioxidant defense genes and secondary metabolites in plants. In ginseng, MJ treatment in adventitious root resulted in the increase of dammarenediol synthase expression but a decrease of cycloartenol synthase expression, thereby enhancing ginsenoside biosynthesis. While a previous study focused on the application of MJ to affect ginsenoside production in adventitious roots, we conducted our research on entire plants by evaluating the effect of exogenous MJ on ginsenoside production with the aim of obtaining new approaches to study ginsenoside biosynthesis response to MJ in vivo.Methods: Different parts of MJ-treated ginseng plants were analyzed for ginsenoside contents (fine root, root body, epidermis, rhizome, stem, and leaf) by high-performance liquid chromatography.Results: The total ginsenoside content of the ginseng root significantly increased after two days of MJ treatment compared with the control not subjected to MJ. Our results revealed that MJ treatment enhances ginsenoside production not in the epidermis, but in the stele of the ginseng root, implying transportation of ginsenosides from the root vasculature to the epidermis. Application of MJ enhanced protopanaxadiol (PPD)-type ginsenosides, whereas chilling treatment induced protopanaxatriol (PPT)-type ginsenosides.Conclusion: These findings indicate that the production of PPD- and PPT-type ginsenosides is differently affected by abiotic and biotic stresses in the ginseng plant, and they might play different defense mechanism roles.