BACKGROUND Food adulteration remains a major global concern. DNA fingerprinting has several advantages over chemical and morphological identification techniques. DNA microarray-based fingerprinting techniques have not been used previously to detect adulteration involving dried commercial samples of closely related species. Here we report amplification of low-level DNA obtained from dried commer...

Over many years, parts of Panax ginseng (root and rhizome) have been identified and applied for medical purposes as traditional Chinese herbal medicine. Recently, research has indicated that ginseng fruit also contains similar compounds and is as rich as the other parts of the ginseng. This discovery may dramatically improve the efficient of outputs derived from ginseng products. Here, a new te...

Panax ginseng is one of the most widely prescribed herbal medicines for the treatment of cancer, diabetes, chronic inflammation, and neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases. Since the use of alternative medicines in combination with conventional therapy may increase the risk of unwanted interactions, we investigated the possible genotoxicity of a water-soluble form of the dry root of P. g...

Colorectal cancer remains one of the most prevalent cancer and a leading cause of cancer related death in the US. Many currently used chemotherapeutic agents are derived from botanicals. Identifying herbal sources, including those from ginseng family, to develop better anti-cancer therapies remains an essential step in advancing the treatment of the cancer. In this article, potential roles of g...

In this study, hydroponically-cultivated ginseng leaves, fruits, and roots were respectively extracted with ethanol. The contents of 12 ginsenosides and three phenolics in the extracts were quantitatively analyzed and the free radical scavenging activities were measured and compared. Hydroponically-cultivated ginseng leaves contained higher levels of gensenosides (Rg1, Rg2+Rh1, Rd, and Rg3) and...

BACKGROUND Panax ginseng Meyer (Asian ginseng) has a large nuclear genome size of > 3.5 Gbp in haploid genome equivalent of 24 chromosomes. Tandem repeats (TRs) occupy significant portions of the genome in many plants and are often found in specific genomic loci, making them a valuable molecular cytogenetic tool in discriminating chromosomes. In an effort to understand the P. ginseng genome str...

Panax ginseng is the most widely used herbal medicine for improving cognitive functions. The pharmacological activity and underlying mechanisms of mountain-cultivated ginseng, however, have yet to be clearly elucidated, in particular, against trimethyltin-induced cognitive dysfunction. We previously reported that interleukin-6 plays a protective role against trimethyltin-induced cognitive dysfu...

American ginseng (derived from Panax quinquefolius) is one of the most widely used medicinal herbs in the world. Because of its high price and increasing demand, there are many adulterants on the market. The proposed internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) has been used to identify raw medicinal materials, but it is not suitable for the identification of Chinese patent medicine ingredients. Theref...

To investigate the efficacy in treating erectile dysfunction and to develop a natural drug without complications, the results of ginseng treatments are compared to placebo and other drug. A total of 90 patients with 30 patients in each group were closely followed. Changes in symptoms such as frequency of intercourse, premature ejaculation, and morning erections after treatment were not changed ...

Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer (Korean ginseng) is one of the most valuable medicinal plants, recognised for its neuroprotection and other beneficial health effects. It present in a wide range food products, namely plant supplements (PFS) herbal infusions. However, species, having distinct therapeutic effects, are also known as ginseng, pointing out need authenticating such products. The work aims at...