Characterization of Panax ginseng root extracts: development of a new analytical method for the quantification of ginsenosides and biological studies.

The term Panax derived from the word “panacea” which means a cure of all disease. In fact, this medicinal plant has been used in the Traditional Chinese Medicine for the treatment of various illnesses. Recent investigations have reported that extracts prepared from the roots of ginseng possess diverse biological activities such as anticancer, antioxidant, anti-cardiovascular diseases, antidiabetic, and anti-obesity [1, 2]. The aim of the present research was to develop and efficient and fast method for the characterization of ginsenosides in ginseng root extracts by using HPLC-MS/MS system with the scope to produce dried extracts rich in ginsenosides and to further evaluate them for their anti-inflammatory and anti-obesity activities. For this purpose, a new analytical method for ginsenoside quantification in ginseng roots has been developed and validated by using HPLC-MS/MS triple quadrupole. In addition, several extraction procedures such as three diverse mechanisms of extraction (liquid-solid extraction (LSE), LSE-assisted by Naviglio extractor and ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE)) both with various solvents (ethanol, methanol, and a mixture of them with water), have been evaluated studying the extraction efficiency and recovery capacity. The most performing procedures have been applied to prepare dried extracts which have been and will be biologically investigated. The new analytical method was characterized by a good linearity (R2 ≥ 0.9984 for all analytes), repeatability (intraday, RSD = 2.9−6.3%; interday, RSD = 8.3−12.5%) and sensitivity (LOQ = 15 µg/kg for all ginsenosides). The best extraction procedures considering the extraction efficiency and recovery were those prepared with ethanol:water (50:50, v/v) and methanol:water (70:30, v/v) both with SLE and UAE. All the dried extracts were constituted by high level of ginsenosides since their total content varied from 2.6 to 3.3% of dried weight extract (DWE) and the best one, in term of bioactive compound content, was that prepared with SLE with a mixture of ethanol and water. The most abundant ginsenosides in ginseng extracts were Rg1 (10.0−13.1 g/kg of DWE) and Rb1 (6.2−7.8 g/kg of DWE). The individual standards of ginsenosides did not show a strong activity against cytokines except for interferon-y. In addition, the tested ginsenosides and the extracts similarly inhibit the activity of the NOS enzymes in TPH-1 cell line treated with LPS. The best dried extracts will be further characterized for other anti-inflammatory and anti-obesity activities in the perspective of their application in nutraceutical formulation. References [1] Wee J. J., Park K. M., Chung A. S. Biological activities of ginseng and its application to human health. Herbal Medicine: Biomolecular and Clinical Aspects (2nd ed.). 2011; Chapter 8, CRC Press, Boca Raton. [2] Lee M. R., Kim B. C., Kim R., Oh H. I., Kim H. K., Choi K. J., Sung C. K. Anti-obesity effects of black ginseng extract in high fat diet-fed mice. J. Ginseng Res. 2013; 37:308.