Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1425794
This article is part of the Research Topic Traditional Processing Methods in Ethnopharmacology: Enhancing Therapeutic Effects and Unveiling Mechanisms of Action View all 9 articles

Changes in the chemical composition and medicinal effects of black ginseng during processing

Provisionally accepted
Ye Qiu Ye Qiu 1Mengyuan Wang Mengyuan Wang 2*Yi Huang Yi Huang 1*Xiao Guo Xiao Guo 3*Ming Yang Ming Yang 1*
  • 1 Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China
  • 2 Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Changchun, China
  • 3 Jilin Cancer Hospital, Changchun, Jilin Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    To study the changes in the chemical composition and medicinal effects of black ginseng during processing.The contents of ginsenosides Rg1, Re, Rh1, Rb1, 20-(S)-Rg3, 20-(R)-Rg3, and Rg5 were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and the percentage of rare saponins was calculated. Furthermore, changes in the contents of reducing sugars and amino acids (i.e., Maillard reaction (MR) substrates) were measured to assess the relationship between processing and the MR. Compounds were identified using HPLC-MS and their cleavage patterns were analyzed. Gene co-expression network bioinformatics techniques were applied to identify the pharmacological mechanism of black ginseng.The changes in the physicochemical characteristics of black ginseng during processing were determined based on the MR. Rare saponins accumulated during black ginseng processing. In addition, reducing sugars were produced through polysaccharide pyrolysis and the MR; thus, their content initially increased and then decreased. The amino acid content gradually decreased as the number of evaporation steps increased, indicating that both amino acids and reducing sugars acted as substrates for the MR during black ginseng processing. Thirty-one saponins, 18 sugars, and 58 amino acids were identified based on the MS analysis. Transcriptomics results demonstrated that black ginseng can regulate signaling pathways such as the TNF, IL-17, MAPK, and PI3K-Akt pathways.This finding helps us understand the observed proliferation and differentiation of immune-related cells and positively regulated cell adhesion.

    Keywords: Black ginseng, ginsenoside, Amino Acids, Maillard Reaction, Transcriptome

    Received: 30 Apr 2024; Accepted: 02 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Qiu, Wang, Huang, Guo and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Mengyuan Wang, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Changchun, China
    Yi Huang, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China
    Xiao Guo, Jilin Cancer Hospital, Changchun, Jilin Province, China
    Ming Yang, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.