Effects of Harvest Time on Phytochemical Constituents and Biological Activities of Panax ginseng Berry Extracts.

Seung-Yeap Song,Dae-Hun Park,Goo Yoon,Chun-Sik Bae,Hong-Seok Son,Jung-Hee Lee,Seong-Wook Seo,Jung-Hyun Shim,Sang Hoon Rhee,Kyung-Mok Park,Hyung-Gyun Kim,Seung-Sik Cho,In-Soo Yoon,Eunok Im

doi:10.3390/molecules24183343

Abstract

Ginseng (Panax ginseng) has long been used as a traditional medicine for the prevention and treatment of various diseases. Generally, the harvest time and age of ginseng have been regarded as important factors determining the efficacy of ginseng. However, most studies have mainly focused on the root of ginseng, while studies on other parts of ginseng such as its berry have been relatively limited. Thus, the aim of this study iss to determine effects of harvest time on yields, phenolics/ginsenosides contents, and the antioxidant/anti-elastase activities of ethanol extracts of three- and four-year-old ginseng berry. In both three- and fourfour-year-old ginseng berry extracts, antioxidant and anti-elastase activities tended to increase as berries ripen from the first week to the last week of July. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis has revealed that contents of ginsenosides except Rg1 tend to be the highest in fourfour-year-old ginseng berries harvested in early July. These results indicate that biological activities and ginsenoside profiles of ginseng berry extracts depend on their age and harvest time in July, suggesting the importance of harvest time in the development of functional foods and medicinal products containing ginseng berry extracts. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the influence of harvest time on the biological activity and ginsenoside contents of ginseng berry extracts.

Highlights

Ginseng (Panax ginseng) has long been used as a traditional medicine for the prevention and treatment of various diseases, including cancer, diabetes, inflammation, allergy, and cardiovascularMolecules 2019, 24, 3343; doi:10.3390/molecules24183343 www.mdpi.com/journal/moleculesMolecules 2019, 24, 3343 diseases, in the East Asia, in Korea and China [1,2]
Effects of Harvest Time on Chemical Constituents and Biological Activities of Ginseng Berry Extracts. In both 3- and four-year-old ginseng berry extracts, antioxidant (DPPH radical scavenging activity and reducing power) and anti-elastase activities tended to increase as berries ripened from the first week to the last week of July
These results indicate that biological activities and ginsenoside profiles of ginseng berry extracts depend on their age and harvest time in July, suggesting a need to optimize harvest time for the development of functional foods and medicinal products containing ginseng berry extracts

Summary

Introduction

Ginseng (Panax ginseng) has long been used as a traditional medicine for the prevention and treatment of various diseases, including cancer, diabetes, inflammation, allergy, and cardiovascularMolecules 2019, 24, 3343; doi:10.3390/molecules24183343 www.mdpi.com/journal/moleculesMolecules 2019, 24, 3343 diseases, in the East Asia, in Korea and China [1,2]. Ginseng is one of the best known and most recognized medicinal herbs. Most studies have focused mainly on the root of ginseng, while studies on other parts of ginseng such as its berry and leaf are relatively limited [4]. More than sixty different ginsenosides have been identified from various parts of ginseng [2]. Ginseng berry is known to have a distinct phytochemical profile. It contains significantly higher ginsenoside content than ginseng root [5,6]. Oral bioavailability of ginsenosides is generally very low. It is only 0.64% for Rb1 and 3.29% for Rg1 in rats [7,8].

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