ABSTRACT
Panax ginseng C. A. Mey has been used as a traditional medicine and functional food in Asia for thousands of years for its improvement of human immunity and metabolism and its antitumor and antifatigue activities. This study reports the impact of storage conditions and storage period on the quality of P. ginseng. The contents of four major ginsenosides in P. ginseng and phosphorylation activities of Akt of ginseng extracts were affected by both storage conditions and storage period. In contrast, the ATP generation capacity of ginseng extracts was affected by storage conditions, but not by storage period. The results showed that the quality of P. ginseng could be well maintained at a relative humidity between 70% and 90%, and dry conditions might decrease the quality of P. ginseng. Through dual-index evaluation, the present study extended our knowledge on the changes of ginsenosides and bioactivities in P. ginseng with respect to different storage conditions and storage periods.
Subject(s)
Food Quality , Food Storage , Ginsenosides/analysis , Panax/chemistry , Animals , Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic/analysis , Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic/chemistry , Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic/pharmacology , Cell Line , Cells, Cultured , China , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology , Ginsenosides/pharmacology , Humans , Panax/growth & development , Phosphorylation/drug effects , Plant Extracts/chemistry , Plant Extracts/pharmacology , Protein Processing, Post-Translational/drug effects , Rats , Signal Transduction/drug effectsABSTRACT
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Ligustrum purpurascens, named as "Ku ding cha", has been used as a kind of functional tea in southern China for about two thousand years, which has the effects on diuresis, anti-hypertension, weight-loss and anti-inflammation. THE AIM OF THE STUDY: This study was aimed to investigate the immune enhancement effects of the crude phenylethanoid glycosides (CPGs) from Ligustrum. Purpurascens on mice and analyze the chemical profiles of phenylethanoid glycosides in the CPGs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The immune functions enhancing potential of CPGs was determined using serum hemolysin antibody, phagocytosis, splenocyte antibody production, and NK cells activity assays. The contents of five major constituents in the crude glycosides of Ligustrum purpurascens were determined by using liquid chromatography, other five glycosides were deduced according to their UV and MS spectra compared with the literature as well. RESULTS: In the immunizing experiment, mice treated with different doses of CPGs showed an increase (p<0.01) in the haemagglutination titre compared with the control group. The increases (p<0.05) were found to be significant at doses of 440 mg/kg and 1.32 g/kg in the experiments of antibody production of spleen cells, MΦ phagocytosis of chicken RBCs and NK cell activity. Further chemical characterization yielded 10 constituents from CPGs, five glycosides were quantified by HPLC and the structures of other five compounds were speculated according to their UV and MS spectra. CONCLUSION: The results suggested that phenylethanoid glycosides from Ligustrum purpurascens have immunomodulatory effects on mice.
