Abstract
A study was performed to compare the anticancer effects of Korean and Chinese red ginseng roots. The whole crude extracts or chloroform, methanol and acetone fractions of the crude extracts were added in the culture medium of three cancer cell lines, a mouse leukemia cell line ($P_{388}$), a human colon carcinoma cell line (HT-29) and a human rectal carcinoma cell line (HRT-18), to screen the growth inhibition effects. The results are summarized as follows : 1. Crude extracts of both Korean and Chinese red ginseng roots inhibited the proliferation of all the three cancer cell lines tested in a dose dependent manner. However, the growth inhibition effects of Korean red ginseng extracts were significantly greater than that of Chinese red ginseng. 2. An acetone fraction showed the greatest antiproliferative effects among the 11'hole crude extracts, chloroform, methanol and acetone fractions of the crude extracts. 3. These results suggest that the active antiproliferative components of the crude extracts are present mostly in the acetone fraction.