In order to identify the existence of Panax species in herbal medicine preparations, the Ginseng specific marker primer was selected and created based on the sequence of Korean ginseng DNA fragment, 359 bp. The gradient PCR was performed on 40 types of the herbal medicines including the 7 types of Araliaceae that are in the same family with the Panax ginseng using the created Ginseng maker primer. As result, Panax notoginseng (Chinese), Panax japonicus (Japanese) and Panax quinquefolius (American), along with Panax ginseng (Korean) were the only ones amplified. However, in the case of Atractylodes lancea, one of the herbal medicines not categorized as Panax species, the DNA was prominently amplified by the Ginseng marker primer. The sequence of the amplified DNA of Atractylodes lancea was identified, resulting in enabling the differentiation from the Panax species by the Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLP) method. In addition, the results of the gradient PCR performed on the herbal medicine preparations that consists of Panax ginseng showed that 290 bp size of the original DNA fragments of Panax ginseng was amplified on the herbal medicine preparations containing Panax ginseng. Therefore, these results suggest a possibility of creating a new testing method for identifying specific herb medicines using the gradient PCR, a molecular biological method not only on Panax ginseng, but also on other herbal medicines and herbal medicine preparations.

To examine the effect of saltwort (Salicornia herbacea) on blood cholesterol and lipid metabolism, hyperlipidemia was induced in animal rats. Saltwort extract was then administered to the rats for 5 weeks, after which, blood biochemical changes were determined. Saltwort treatment resulted in a significant reduction of the levels of total cholesterol, blood triglyceride, and LDL-cholesterol. In contrast, the expression levels of HDL-cholesterol were increased at saltwort treatment group. The aspartate aminotransferase (AST: serum SGOT) value of the saltwort administration group was significantly reduced and the blood alanine aminotransferase (ALT: serum SGPT) levels decreased significantly in comparison to those in the negative control group. Degeneration of hepatic tissues due to the consumption of a high lipid diet for a long period of time was reported in the negative control group. On the other hand, in the saltwort administration group, a substantial reduction in the accumulation of lipid droplets in the cytoplasm was seen, and in addition, it was confirmed that the degeneration of hepatic tissues recovered almost to level of that of the normal control group. These data suggest that saltwort extract represents an excellent candidate for protection of rat hepatocytes from high fat diet-mediated damage.

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