Ginsenoside

The chemical structure of the ginsenoside Rg1, a member of the dammarane family of molecules.

Ginsenosides or panaxosides are a class of natural product steroid glycosides and triterpene saponins. Compounds in this family are found almost exclusively in the plant genus Panax (ginseng), which has a long history of use in traditional medicine that has led to the study of pharmacological effects of ginseng compounds. As a class, ginsenosides exhibit a large variety of subtle and difficult-to-characterize biological effects when studied in isolation.[1]

Ginsenosides can be isolated from various parts of the plant, though typically from the roots, and can be purified by column chromatography.[2] The chemical profiles of Panax species are distinct; although Asian ginseng, Panax ginseng, has been most widely studied due to its use in traditional Chinese medicine, there are ginsenosides unique to American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) and Japanese ginseng (Panax japonicus). Ginsenoside content also varies significantly due to environmental effects.[3]

  1. ^ Attele, AS; Wu, JA; Yuan, CS (1 December 1999). "Ginseng pharmacology: multiple constituents and multiple actions". Biochemical Pharmacology. 58 (11): 1685–93. doi:10.1016/s0006-2952(99)00212-9. PMID 10571242.
  2. ^ Fuzzati, N (5 December 2004). "Analysis methods of ginsenosides". Journal of Chromatography B. 812 (1–2): 119–33. doi:10.1016/j.jchromb.2004.07.039. PMID 15556492.
  3. ^ Qi, LW; Wang, CZ; Yuan, CS (June 2011). "Ginsenosides from American ginseng: chemical and pharmacological diversity". Phytochemistry. 72 (8): 689–99. Bibcode:2011PChem..72..689Q. doi:10.1016/j.phytochem.2011.02.012. PMC 3103855. PMID 21396670.