Ginsenosides from American ginseng: Chemical and pharmacological diversity

Abstract

Ginseng occupies a prominent position in the list of best-selling natural products in the world. Compared to the long history of use and widespread research on Asian ginseng, the study of American ginseng is relatively limited. In the past decade, some promising advances have been achieved in understanding the chemistry, pharmacology and structure-function relationship of American ginseng. To date, there is no systematic review of American ginseng. In this review, we present the different structures of the ginsenosides in American ginseng, including naturally occurring compounds and those resulting from steaming or biotransformation. Preclinical and clinical studies published in the past decade will also be discussed. We highlight the chemical and pharmacological diversity and potential structural-activity relationship of ginsenosides. Our hope is that this article is a useful reference to chemists and biologists researching American ginseng, and will open the door to novel agents in drug discovery.

Immunomodulatory effect of a formula developed from American ginseng and Chinese jujube extracts in mice

“…In the past few decades, information on certain phytochemical features as well as chemical composition of gensenosides of American ginseng has been obtained (Qi et al, 2011). Also, pharmacological effects of American ginseng have been discovered.…”

Ginsenoside Rp1 Inhibits Proliferation and Migration of Human Lung Cancer Cells

“…Ginseng, which has been used for thousands of years in treating a variety of diseases, has many bioactive constituents including ginsenosides, phytosterols, peptides, fatty acids, polysaccharides, polyacetylenes, vitamins, and minerals (Attele et al, 1999;Qi et al, 2011). The most active constituent of ginseng is a saponin glycoside known as ginsenosides.…”

Biotransformation, a Promising Technology for Anti-cancer Drug Development

“…Over 60 kinds of ginsenosides have been isolated from ginseng so far (Qi et al, 2011). Among which, ginsenoside Rb 1 , Rb 2 , Rc, Rd, Re, Rg 1 are the majority chemicals in ginseng that can be produced by hydrolyzing the sugar moieties whereas ginsenoside F 2 , Rg 3 , Rh 2 , compound K(CK) are rare ginsenosides and are present at low concentrations or absent in ginseng (Noh et al, 2009) (the structures of key ginseng saponins are shown in Figure 2).…”