Ginsenosides Derived from Asian (Panax ginseng), American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) and Potential Cytoactivity

Ginseng is a slow-growing, deciduous perennial plant that belongs to the Araliaceae family and the Panax genus. There are a variety of species but the two main types are Panax ginseng C.A Meyer (Asian ginseng) and Panax quinquefolius (American ginseng). Asian ginseng is further subdivided by drying method of the root into either red or white ginseng. Traditionally, both Asian and American ginsengs have been used for a wide array of preventive and therapeutic purposes. Ginsenosides or dammarane triterpenoids are plant secondary metabolites and are thought to be the major active constituents of the Panax species. Ginsenosides are primarily classified into two groups, which are the 20(S)-protopanaxadiol (PD) and the 20(S)-protopanaxatriol (PT), which is based on their chemical structural differences. Differences in ginsenosides chemical structure are due to the type, position, and the number of sugar moieties attached by glycosidic bonds. Both Asian and American ginsengs generally contain a similar ginsenosides profile but vary in terms of amount of individual compounds. Rare ginsenosides which may not naturally be present in ginseng extracts can be obtained via processing methods such as steaming, microbial or enzymatic transformation. The detection and generation of rare ginsenosides can produce ginsenosides such as Rg3, Rh2, IH-901 (K), 25-OH-PD, 25-OCH3-PD among others and this has increased the interest into the biological activity of ginseng. This review focuses on the recent developments in ginseng research. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________