• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.325-333
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• 2019

The present study was carried out to identify the distribution characteristics of heavy metals in ginseng and wood-cultivated ginseng reduction of dietary exposure. Samples of ginseng and wood-cultivated ginseng were collected from 14 and 5 regions across Korea, respectively. Lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (Ar) were detected by ICP-MS after microwave digestion, whereas aluminum (Al) was determined using ICP. Cultivated ginseng peels were 16.2% of whole root, while the peels and fine roots amounted to 21.8% and 16.8% of whole wood-cultivated ginseng, respectively. Taking into account the weight and concentration of the heavy metals by root part, their distribution ratios were calculated and compared. The cultivated ginseng peels contained 40.3% Pb, 25.9% Cd, 47.6% As, and 89.9% Al. Meanwhile, heavy metals consisting of 27.2% Pb, 28.2% Cd, 48.3% As, and 56.8% Al were distributed in the peels of the wood-cultivated ginseng. There was no significant difference between the peels and fine roots of the wood-cultivated ginseng with respect to the distribution proportion of heavy metals, except for Al. These results indicate that the level of dietary exposure to heavy metals could be reduced by peeling ginseng and wood-cultivated ginseng prior to consumption.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.203-210
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• 2005

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate anti-cancer effects of various ginseng herbal acupuncture in mice and expression of cytokine mRNA. Methods: Anti-cancer effects of various ginseng herbal acupuncture were tested by measuring the increase of life span of mice suffering from peritoneal cancer induced by Sarcoma-180, and expression of mRNA manifestation using RT-PCR. The results are as follows: Results: 1. Increase of life span of mice suffering from peritoneal cancer induced by Sarcoma-180 was measured for anti-cancer effects. As a result, 115% increase was shown in the cultivated wild ginseng group, 11.1% increase in the red ginseng group, and no increase was detected in either white ginseng and fresh ginseng groups. 2. Measuring the expression of cytokine mRNA manifestation, expression of $interferon-{\gamma}$ was slightly increased in the cultivated wild ginseng group compared to the control group, but manifestation of interleukin-10 was slightly decreased. 3. For the red ginseng, white ginseng, and fresh ginseng experiment groups II, IL-2, IL-4, $INF-{\gamma}$, and IL -10 all showed increase suggesting possible error occurring during the test process. Conclusion: From the results obtained in this study, we can reason that the ginseng we use may not match the ginseng cited in the texts of the past. Anti-cancer effects of cultivated wild ginseng can be more potent than those of white and fresh ginseng.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2018.04a
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• pp.5-5
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• 2018

Ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer), one of the most widely used medicinal plants in traditional oriental medicine, is used for the treatment of various diseases. It has been classified according to its cultivation environment, such as field cultivated ginseng (FCG) and mountain cultivated ginseng (MCG). However, little is known about differences in gene expression in ginseng roots between field cultivated and mountain cultivated ginseng. In order to investigate the whole transcriptome landscape of ginseng, we employed High-Throughput sequencing technologies using the Illumina HiSeqTM2500 system, and generated a large amount of sequenced transcriptome from ginseng roots. Approximately 77 million and 87 million high-quality reads were produced in the FCG and MCG roots transcriptome analyses, respectively, and we obtained 256,032 assembled unigenes with an average length of 1,171 bp by de novo assembly methods. Functional annotations of the unigenes were performed using sequence similarity comparisons against the following databases: the non-redundant nucleotide database, the InterPro domains database, the Gene Ontology Consortium database, and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway database. A total of 4,207 unigenes were assigned to specific metabolic pathways, and all of the known enzymes involved in starch and sucrose metabolism pathways were also identified in the KEGG library. This study indicated that alpha-glucan phosphorylase 1, putative pectinesterase/pectinesterase inhibitor 17, beta-amylase, and alpha-glucan phosphorylase isozyme H might be important factors involved in starch and sucrose metabolism between FCG and MCG in different environments.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.76-80
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• 2015

Background: Identifying suitable site for growing mountain-cultivated ginseng is a concern for ginseng producers. This study was conducted to evaluate the soil properties of cultivation sites for mountain-cultivated ginseng in Hamyang-gun, which is one of the most well-known areas for mountain-cultivated ginseng in Korea. Methods: The sampling plots from 30 sites were randomly selected on or near the center of the ginseng growing sites in July and August 2009. Soil samples for the soil properties analysis were collected from the top 20 cm at five randomly selected points. Results: Mountain-cultivated ginseng was grown in soils that varied greatly in soil properties on coniferous, mixed, and deciduous broad-leaved stand sites of elevations between > 200mand < 1,000 m. The soil bulk density was higher in Pinus densiflora than in Larix leptolepis stand sites and higher in the < 700-m sites than in > 700-m sites. Soil pH was unaffected by the type of stand sites (pH 4.35-4.55), whereas the high-elevation sites of > 700mwere strongly acidified, with pH 4.19. The organic carbon and total nitrogen content were lower in the P. densiflora stand sites than in the deciduous broad-leaved stand sites. Available phosphorus was low in all of the stand sites. The exchangeable cationwas generally higher in the mixed and low-elevation sites than in the P. densiflora and high-elevation sites, respectively. Conclusion: These results indicate that mountain-cultivated ginseng in Korea is able to grow in very acidic, nutrient-depleted forest soils.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.81-86
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• 2005

Panax ginseng is one of the most important medicinal plants in the world. The international trade of ginseng is increasing yearly. The disguise of Chinese and American ginseng into Korean ginseng became a problem in recent years in abroad and Korea. An effective method to authenticate the Korean Panax ginseng from others at a DNA level is necessary for the healthy development of the ginseng market. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis was applied to develop a method for the identification of Korean ginseng between Chinese ginseng and American ginseng. It is very difficult to detect the different polymorphic bands among Korean field cultivated ginseng, and between field and wild-cultivated ginseng. The genetic distance coefficient by AFLP analysis between field- and wild cultivated Korean ginseng was very low, 0.056. Whereas, polymorphic bands between Korean and Chinese wild-cultivated ginseng was significantly different. The genetic distance coefficient between wild-cultivated Korean and Chinese ginseng was 0.149. The genetic distance coefficients between the P. ginseng and P. quinquefolius were ranging from 0.626 to 0.666. These results support that the AFLP analysis could be applied to authenticate Korean P. ginseng from others Chinese P. ginseng and American ginseng (P. quinquefolius).

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.45-58
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• 2017

Objectives: The aim of this trial is to investigate the effect of Ginseng and Wild Cultivated Ginseng to Heat pattern subject. Methods: Eighty-nine Subjects were diagnosed as heat pattern by Cold-Heat Patternization and divided into Ginseng group (n=30), Wild Cultivated Ginseng group (n=31) and Placebo group (n=28) in their 1 st visit. In each visit, The researchers measured the subject's facial temperature using the infrared thermometer (Testo 835-T1). After that, The subjects were asked to mark the current score of flushing on the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and to complete the Chalder-Fatigue Scale (CFS) in each visit. The subjects took the test drug for one week and returned the remaining drug on the 2nd visit. The trial result was analyzed with one-way ANOVA using SPSS for Windows version 18. Results: 1. Systolic blood pressure was significantly lower in the Ginseng group and Wild Cultivated Ginseng group than in the control group (p=0.021). 2. There was no significant difference in facial temperature between each groups. 3. The current score of flushing showed the greatest decrease in the Ginseng group compared to the other groups but there was no significant difference (p=0.205). 4. The score of Chalder-Fatigue Scale was decreased in all groups but not statistically significant (p=0.180). Conclusions: This study showed that taking Ginseng extract and Wild Cultivated Ginseng extract do not affect to heat-rising reaction to the subjects diagnosed as heat pattern.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.98 no.5
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• pp.568-575
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• 2009

Korean wild and forest cultivated ginseng has long been accepted as high medicinal values compared to field cultivated ginseng. Owing to the high price of Korean wild ginseng, Chinese wild and forest cultivated ginseng were smuggled and sold as Korean wild and forest cultivated ginseng. Therefore, an efficient method is required to distinguish Korean ginseng from Chinese ginseng. Microsatellites, simple sequence repeats (SSRs), are highly polymorphic loci present in DNA that consist of repeating units of base pairs. Thus SSR markers are highly advantageous for detection of small genetic variances of intra-species. In the present study, we constructed a microsatellite-enriched genomic library from South Korean wild Panax ginseng. After sequence analysis of 992 randomly picked positive colonies, 126 (12.7%) of the colonies were found to contain microsatellite sequences, and 38 primer pairs were designed. By polymorphism assessment using 36 primer pairs, 4 primers (PG409, PG450, PG491, and PG582) were shown to be polymorphic to distinguish the South Korean ginseng from the Chinese ginseng. These 4 microsatellite markers will provide powerful tools to authenticate South Korean ginseng from Chinese ginseng.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.98-102
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• 2024

Background: Ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) is a perennial plant belonging to the Araliaceae family that is known to have various beneficial effects including improving memory loss and spatial cognitive ability, and anti-cancer and anti-diabetes activity. Its functional benefits also include improving liver function, regulating blood pressure, stress, and providing antioxidant activity. Usually, various agrochemicals are used in cultivating ginseng preventing from many diseases. Methods: FCGP (field cultivated ginseng in pot) was implemented by imitating MCWG (mountain cultivated wild ginseng). Pesticide analysis of pot cultivation was carried out and the contents of bioactive components such as ginsenoside were also analyzed. Results: FCGP ginsenoside content was higher than that of FCG (field cultivated ginseng) and MCWG. FCGP has been shown to have a relatively high antioxidant effect compared with cultivated ginseng. Conclusion: It was confirmed that ginseng can be grown for 6 years without resorting to use of pesticides. In addition, it was confirmed that effective accumulation of physiologically active ingredients such as ginsenoside is possible. Our result represents FCGP is a novel method of pesticide-free ginseng cultivation

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.1-17
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• 2004

Objective : To compare and examine how adjustment of pH and electrolyte can affect the efficacy of cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture, we've administered pure cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture and pH and electrolyte adjusted cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture on A549 human lung cancer lines. Then mRNA and proteins which take parts in apoptosis were examined. Methods : Pure cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture treated group was set as the control group and pH and electrolyte adjusted cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture groups were administered on A549 human lung cancer lines. Cell toxicity was carefully examined and from the analysis of DNA fragmentation, RT-PCR, and Western blot, manifestation of mRNA and proteins which are associated with apoptosis were inspected. Results : The following results were obtained on apoptosis of A549 human lung cancer lines after administering pH and electrolyte adjusted cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture. 1. Measuring cell toxicity of lung cancer cells, higher cell toxicity was detected at pH and electrolyte adjusted groups and the results were concentration dependent. 2. Through DNA fragmentation, we were able to confirm cell destruction in all groups. 3. Experiment groups treated with cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture showed inhibition of Bcl-2 and COX-2 at mRNA and Protein level, whileas increase of Bax was shown. 4. Manifestation of p21, p53, Cyclin E, and Cyclin D1 were confirmed in all groups. 5. Extrication of Cytochrome C was detected at all groups, as well as increased activity of the enzyme caspase-3 and caspase-9, and PARP fragmentation were confirmed. Conclusions : From the above results, we can carefully deduce cell destruction of A549 human lung cancer lines were induced by Apoptosis. At the same concentration level, cell destruction efficacy was better with adjusted pH and electrolyte. Cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture also showed decrease of Bcl-2 and COX-2, as well as increase of Bax. Since cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture increases manifestation of p21, p53, Cyclin E, and Cyclin D1, it affects cellular cycle and through these phenomena, we can consider extrication of Cytochrome C, increase of caspase, and PARP fragmentation are the results.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.18-21
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• 1998

Comparative cytotoxic activities of petroleum ether soluble fraction from various ginsengs of Panax species were evaluated using A549 (human lung adenocarcinoma) and SK-OV-3(human ovary carcinoma) cancer cell lines. Korean red ginseng, Korean white ginseng, American ginseng and Canadian ginseng were found to show more potent cytotoxicitles on A549 and SK-OV-3 cell lines than Chinese red ginseng, Japanese red ginseng and Sanchi ginseng. It is noteworthy that especially, red ginseng prepared from the root of Panax ginseng cultivated in Korea shows relatively stronger cytotoxic activities than those cultivated in China and Japan.