PPD ) And Protopanaxatriol Research Articles

Effects of Minor Ginsenosides, Ginsenoside Metabolites, and Ginsenoside Epimers on the Growth of Caenorhabditis elegans

In the previous report, we have demonstrated that ginsenoside Rc, one of major ginsenosides, is a major component for the restoration for normal growth of worms in cholesterol-deprived medium. In the present study, we further investigated the roles of minor ginsenosides, such as ginsenoside Rh1 and Rh2, ginsenoside metabolites such as compound K (CK), protopanaxadiol (PPD), and protopanaxatriol (PPT) and ginsenoside epimers such as 20(R)- and 20(S)-ginsenoside Rg3 in cholesterol-deprived medium. We found that ginsenoside Rh1 almost restored normal growth of worms in cholesterol-deprived medium in F1 generation. However, supplement of ginsenoside Rh2 caused a suppression of worm growths in cholesterol-deprived medium. In addition, CK and PPD also slightly restored normal growth of worms in cholesterol-deprived medium but PPT not. In experiments using ginsenoside epimers, supplement of 20(S)- but not 20(R)-ginsenoside Rg3 in cholesterol-deprived medium also almost restored worm growth. These results indicate that the absence or presence of carbohydrate component at backbone of ginsenoside, the number of carbohydrate attached at carbon-3, and the position of hydroxyl group at carbon-20 of ginsenoside might plays important roles in restoration of worm growth in cholesterol-deprived medium.

Differential Effects of Ginsenoside Metabolites on HERG K+Channel Currents

The human ether-a-go-go-related gene (HERG) cardiac K+ channels are one of the representative pharmacological targets for development of drugs against cardiovascular diseases such as arrhythmia. Panax ginseng has been known to exhibit cardioprotective effects. In a previous report we demonstrated that ginsenoside Rg3 regulates HERG K+ channels by decelerating deactivation. However, little is known about how ginsenoside metabolites regulate HERG K+ channel activity. In the present study, we examined the effects of ginsenoside metabolites such as compound K (CK), protopanaxadiol (PPD), and protopanaxatriol (PPT) on HERG K+ channel activity by expressing human α subunits in Xenopus oocytes. CK induced a large persistent deactivating-tail current (Ideactivating-tail) and significantly decelerated deactivating current decay in a concentration-dependent manner. The EC50 for persistent Ideactivating-tail was 16.6±1.3 μM. In contrast to CK, PPT accelerated deactivating-tail current deactivation. PPD itself had no effects on deactivating-tail currents, whereas PPD inhibited ginsenoside Rg3-induced persistent Ideactivating-tail and accelerated HERG K+ channel deactivation in a concentration-dependent manner. These results indicate that ginsenoside metabolites exhibit differential regulation on Ideactivating-tail of HERG K+ channel.

Development of a rapid and convenient method to separate eight ginsenosides from Panax ginseng by high‐speed counter‐current chromatography coupled with evaporative light scattering detection

Ginsenosides exhibit diverse biological activities and are major well-known components isolated from the radix of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer. In the present work, a rapid and facile method for the separation and purification of eight ginsenosides from P. ginseng by high-speed counter-current chromatography coupled with evaporative light scattering detector (HSCCC-ELSD) was successfully developed. The crude samples for HSCCC separation were first purified from ginseng extract using a macroporous resin; the extract was loaded onto a Diaion-HP20 column and fractionated by methanol and water gradient elution. The ginsenosides-protopanaxadiol (PPD) and protopanaxatriol (PPT) fractions were subsequently eluted with 65 and 80% methanol and water gradient elution, respectively. Furthermore, these two fractions were separated by HSCCC-ELSD. The two-phase solvent system used for separation was composed of chloroform/methanol/water/isopropanol at a volume ratio of 4:3:2:1. Each fraction obtained was collected and dried, yielding the following eight ginsenosides: Rg(1), Re, Rf, Rh(1), Rb(1), Rc Rb(2) and Rd. The purity of these ginsenosides was greater than 97% as assessed by HPLC-ELSD, and their structures were characterized by electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. This is the first report regarding the separation of the ginsenosides Rh(1), Rb(2) and Rc from P. ginseng by HSCCC.