BackgroundThe study of phenolic compounds profiles and antioxidative activity in ginseng fruit, leaves, and roots with respect to cultivation years, and has been little reported to date. Hence, this study examined the phenolic compounds profiles and 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free-radical-scavenging activities in the fruit, leaves, and roots of Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) as a function of cultivation year.MethodsProfiling of 23 phenolic compounds in ginseng fruit, leaves, and roots was investigated using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with the external calibration method. Antioxidative activity of ginseng fruit, leaves, and roots were evaluated using the method of DPPH free-radical-scavenging activity.ResultsThe total phenol content in ginseng fruit and leaves was higher than in ginseng roots (p < 0.05), and the phenol content in the ginseng samples was significantly correlated to the DPPH free-radical-scavenging activity (r = 0.928****). In particular, p-coumaric acid (r = 0.847****) and ferulic acid (r = 0.742****) greatly affected the DPPH activity. Among the 23 phenolic compounds studied, phenolic acids were more abundant in ginseng fruit, leaves, and roots than the flavonoids and other compounds (p < 0.05). In particular, chlorogenic acid, gentisic acid, p- and m-coumaric acid, and rutin were the major phenolic compounds in 3–6-yr-old ginseng fruit, leaves, and roots.ConclusionThis study provides basic information about the antioxidative activity and phenolic compounds profiles in fruit, leaves, and roots of Korean ginseng with cultivation years. This information is potentially useful to ginseng growers and industries involved in the production of high-quality and nutritional ginseng products.

: Recently ginseng farmers are demanding ginseng varieties having resistance to disasters to cope with climate change. Thus, it is essential to develop new varieties which have resistance to heat and physiological disorders to stably produce ginseng. 'Cheonryang' is a new ginseng variety developed from a Yeoju line of high yielding and salt resistance. This variety was selected in the farmer's field by the ginseng breeding team of Department of Herbal Crop Research, NIHHS, RDA. It shows red leaf senescence at maturing, red berry and convex leaflet shape in cross section. The time of emergence, flowering and berry maturity of the 'Cheonryang' is 2, 3, 5 days faster than those of 'Chunpoong'. Stem length of 'Cheonryang' is 2.3 cm shorter than that of 'Chunpoong', as 41.3 cm but stem diameter is l.0 cm thicker than that of 'Chunpoong', as 6.4 cm. It shows similar total weight to total root and main root length compared to 'Chunpoong' and main root diameter is thicker 5.3 mm than that of 'Chunpoong'. Number of seeds of 'Cheonryang' is fewer than that of 'Chunpoong' but 1,000-grain weight and stratification rate are higher than those of 'Chunpoong'. The yield performance of this variety was 536 kg/10a in local adaptability test for two years, is 12% higher than that of 'Chunpoong'. It is resistant to damping-off, anthracnose, phytophthora blight, root rot, mulberry mealybug and nematode, mediate resistant for alternaria blight. Yellow spot of aerial part and red skin rarely observed of root, 'Cheonryang' shows moderate resistance at high temperatures.

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Hypoglycemic effect through activity inhibition of α-glucosidase and α-amylase was evaluated using leaves of Eleutherococcus senticosu, Eleutherococcus gracilistylus, Eleutherococcus sieboldianus and Eleutherococcus sessiliflorus which belong to Acanthopanax sessiliflorus genus. As a result of measuring α-glucosidase activity inhibition, extract of Eleutherococcus gracilistylus showed around 43.38% of activity inhibition compared with acarbose and extract of Eleutherococcus senticosu showed 41.24% inhibitory effect. As a result of measuring α-amylase activity inhibition, acarbose showed 73.25% of activity inhibition in 10 mg/mL concentration, and the extract of Eleutherococcus senticosu leaves showed 91.90% higher activity inhibition compared with acarbose. Also, after subjects in a model were induced diabetes with streptozotocin (STZ) intake plant extract from Acanthopanax sessiliflorus for 2 weeks, effect of improving blood glucose level and fat was examined. In all groups with specimen, Eleutherococcus senticosu (T1), Eleutherococcus gracilistylus (T2), Eleutherococcus sieboldianus (T3) and Eleutherococcus sessiliflorus (T4), blood glucose level was significantly decreased compared with that in control group (C). In an experiment of examining changes in fat concentration in blood, total cholesterol content increased in a control group compared with a normal, while in T1, T3 and T4, it decreased significantly compared with the control group. As for HDL-cholesterol, it significantly increased in all diabetes induced groups compared with the normal group, and in T3, it increased the most significantly by 55.61% compared with the control group. In case of LDL-cholesterol, specific difference between the normal group and the control group was not found; however, significant increase was detected in T2 and T3, whereas in T1 and T4, it decreased significantly compared with the control group. As for triglyceride, its concentration increased in the control group like total cholesterol. It decreased 60.16% in T3, 60.80% in T4 and 50.16% in T1 compared with the control group. As a result of measuring the concentration of triglyceride in extracted liver, the control group showed significant increase compared with the normal group, whereas T1 and T2 showed significant decrease compared with the normal group. The above results show that extracts from Acanthopanax sessiliflorus genus are effective for hypoglycemic and improving fat metabolism due to diabetes.

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