Abstract
We conducted this study to investigate the beneficial effects of Rhizopus oligosporus fermentation of wild ginseng on ginsenosides, l-carnitine contents and its biological activity. The Rhizopus oligosporus fermentation of wild ginseng was carried out at 30 °C for between 1 and 14 days. Fourteen ginsenosides and l-carnitine were analyzed in the fermented wild ginseng by the ultra high pressure liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS) system. Our results showed that the total amount of ginsenosides in ginseng increased from 3274 to 5573 mg/kg after 14 days of fermentation. Among the 14 ginsenosides tested, the amounts of 13 ginsenosides (Rg1, Rb2, Rb3, Rc, Rd, Re, Rf, Rg2, Rg3, Rh1, compound K, F1 and F2) increased, whereas ginsenoside Rb1 decreased, during the fermentation. Furthermore, l-carnitine (630 mg/kg) was newly synthesized in fermented ginseng extract after 14 days. In addition, both total phenol contents and DPPH radical scavenging activities showed an increase in the fermented ginseng with respect to non-fermented ginseng. These results show that the fermentation process reduced the cytotoxicity of wild ginseng against RAW264.7 cells. Both wild and fermented wild ginseng showed anti-inflammatory activity via inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis in RAW264.7 murine macrophage cells.
Highlights
Ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) has been considered a popular medicinal herb in Asian countries for over 2000 years and is used as a traditional medicine and health-enhancing supplement similar to a tonic and prophylactic [1]
We investigated the total phenol contents as well as the effects of combination among phenolic compounds, ginsenosides and l-carnitine on antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity via inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis in the RAW264.7 murine macrophage cells of fermented wild ginseng
Many studies have demonstrated that minor ginsenosides (Rd, Rg3 and compound K) possess even more remarkable pharmacological activity than major ginsenosides do. These minor ginsenosides are known to be produced through hydrolysis of sugar residues of major ginsenosides [12,14,15]. These results show that the concentrations of minor ginsenosides (Rg3, Rd and compound K) in wild ginseng extracts were increased by R. oligosporus fermentation
Summary
Ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) has been considered a popular medicinal herb in Asian countries for over 2000 years and is used as a traditional medicine and health-enhancing supplement similar to a tonic and prophylactic [1]. P. ginseng is classified into wild or cultivated types according to the different seeding methods [2,3,4]. Ginseng contains ginsenosides and exhibits multiple pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive, antidiabetes, antistress, anticancer, antioxidant and neuroprotection effects [5,6,7,8,9]. Based on their aglycone structure, ginsenosides are categorized into three groups: oleananes, protopanaxadiols (PPD) and protopanaxatriols (PPT) [4,10,11]. The PPD- and PPT-type ginsenosides carry different sugars linked to C-3 and C-20 in the aglycone PPD and to C-6. The anti-inflammatory and antitumor effects of compound
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