Ginseng, the root of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer (Araliaceae), is a widely used herbal medicine. Ginsenosides, the active ingredients of ginseng, are the main components responsible for many beneficial actions of ginseng. In the present study, we tested ten different ginsenosides in the previously developed in vitro Huntington's disease (HD) assay with primary medium spiny striatal neuronal cultures (MSN) from the YAC128 HD mouse model. We found that nanomolar concentrations of ginsenoside Rb1 and Rc effectively protected YAC128 medium spiny neurons from glutamate-induced apoptosis; and that Rg5 was protective at micromolar concentration. The other seven ginsenosides tested were not effective or exerted toxic effects in MSN cultures. In further experiments we suggested that neuroprotective effects of ginsenosides Rb1, Rc, and Rg5 could correlate with their ability to inhibit glutamate-induced Ca 2+ responses in cultured MSN. From these results we concluded that ginsenosides Rb1, Rc and Rg5 offer a potential therapeutic choice for the treatment of HD and possibly other neurodegenerative disorders.

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Two analogs of sildenafil and vardenafil in food were detected by column liquid chromatography (LC) with a photodiode array detector. They were isolated by preparative LC; their structures were established by mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry. One analog was found to be methisosildenafil (compound A), 5-(5-(3,5-dimethylpiperazin-1-ylsulfonyl)-2-ethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-3-propyl-1H-pyrazolo[4,3-d]-pyrimidin-7(6H)-one. It is a sildenafil analog with a dimethylpiperazine ring substituted for the methylpiperazine group. The second analog, hydroxyvardenafil (compound B) is reported for the first time in this study. Hydroxyvardenafil's International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry name is 2-(2-ethoxy-5-(4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-piperazin-1-ylsulfonyl)phenyl)-5-methyl-7-propylimidazo[ 1,5-f][1,2,4]triazin-4(3H)-one. The novel vardenafil analog has a hydroxyl group added to the ethylpiperazine group.