Ginseng is the root of plants in the genus Panax, such as Korean ginseng (P. ginseng), South China ginseng (P. notoginseng), and American ginseng (P. quinquefolius), characterized by the presence of ginsenosides and gintonin. Ginseng is common in the cuisines and medicines of China and Korea.
In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. These can be activated by enzyme hydrolysis, which causes the sugar part to be broken off, making the chemical available for use. Many such plant glycosides are used as medications. Several species of Heliconius butterfly are capable of incorporating these plant compounds as a form of chemical defense against predators. In animals and humans, poisons are often bound to sugar molecules as part of their elimination from the body.
The Panax (ginseng) genus belongs to the Araliaceae (ivy) family. Panax species are characterized by the presence of ginsenosides and gintonin. Panax is one of approximately 60 plant genera with a classical disjunct east Asian and east North American distribution. Furthermore, this disjunct distribution is asymmetric as only two of the ~18 species in genus are native to North America.
Panax ginseng, ginseng, also known as Asian ginseng, Chinese ginseng or Korean ginseng, is a species of plant whose root is the original source of ginseng. It is a perennial plant that grows in the mountains of East Asia.
Neuroprotection refers to the relative preservation of neuronal structure and/or function. In the case of an ongoing insult the relative preservation of neuronal integrity implies a reduction in the rate of neuronal loss over time, which can be expressed as a differential equation.
Panax notoginseng is a species of the genus Panax, and it is commonly referred to in English as Chinese ginseng or notoginseng. In Chinese it is called tiánqī, tienchi ginseng, sānqī or sanchi, three-seven root, and mountain plant. P. notoginseng belongs to the same scientific genus as Panax ginseng. In Latin, the word panax means "cure-all", and the family of ginseng plants is one of the best-known herbs.
Nectria radicicola is a plant pathogen that is the causal agent of root rot and rusty root. Substrates include ginseng and Narcissus. It is also implicated in the black foot disease of grapevine. It is of the genus Nectria and the family Nectriaceae. N. radicicola is recognizable due to its unique anatomy, morphology, and the formation of its anamorph Cylindrocarpon desructans.
Honokiol is a lignan isolated from the bark, seed cones, and leaves of trees belonging to the genus Magnolia. It has been identified as one of the chemical compounds in some traditional eastern herbal medicines along with magnolol, 4-O-methylhonokiol, and obovatol.
Ginsenosides or panaxosides are a class of natural product steroid glycosides and triterpene saponins. Compounds in this family are found almost exclusively in the plant genus Panax (ginseng), which has a long history of use in traditional medicine that has led to the study of pharmacological effects of ginseng compounds. As a class, ginsenosides exhibit a large variety of subtle and difficult-to-characterize biological effects when studied in isolation.
Remacemide is a drug which acts as a low-affinity NMDA antagonist with sodium channel blocking properties. It has been studied for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke, epilepsy, Huntington's disease, and Parkinson's disease.
Panaxatriol is an organic compound that is an aglycone of ginsenosides, a group of steroid glycosides. It is a dammarane-type tetracyclic triterpene sapogenin found in ginseng and in notoginseng. It is formed by the dehydration of protopanaxatriol.
Protopanaxadiol (PPD) is an organic compound that is an aglycone of ginsenosides, a group of steroid glycosides. It is a dammarane-type tetracyclic terpene sapogenin found in ginseng and in notoginseng.
Dammarane is a tetracyclic triterpene found in sapogenins like those of ginseng. Compounds of the series were first isolated from and named after dammar resin, a natural resin from the tropical trees of the dipterocarp family.
American ginseng is a species of flowering plant in the ivy family Araliaceae. It is native to eastern North America and has been introduced into China. The specific epithet quinquefolius means "five-leaved", which refers to the typical number of leaflets per leaf. It is one of a group of taxa known as "ginseng".
Gintonin is a glycolipoprotein fraction isolated from Panax ginseng. The non-saponin ingredient was designated as gintonin, where gin was derived from ginseng, ton from the tonic effects of ginseng, and in from protein. The main component of gintonin is a complex of lysophosphatidic acids (LPA) and ginseng proteins such as ginseng major latex-like protein151 (GLP151) and ginseng ribonuclease-like storage protein.
The amyrins are three closely related natural chemical compounds of the triterpene class. They are designated α-amyrin (ursane skeleton), β-amyrin (oleanane skeleton), and δ-amyrin. Each is a pentacyclic triterpenol with the chemical formula C30H50O. They are widely distributed in nature and have been isolated from a variety of plant sources such as epicuticular wax. In plant biosynthesis, α-amyrin is the precursor of ursolic acid and β-amyrin is the precursor of oleanolic acid. All three amyrins occur in the surface wax of tomato fruit. α-Amyrin is found in dandelion coffee.
Dammarenediol II synthase (EC 4.2.1.125, dammarenediol synthase, 2,3-oxidosqualene (20S)-dammarenediol cyclase, DDS, (S)-squalene-2,3-epoxide hydro-lyase (dammarenediol-II forming)) is an enzyme with systematic name (3S)-2,3-epoxy-2,3-dihydrosqualene hydro-lyase (dammarenediol-II forming). This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reaction
Pseudoginsenoside F11 is a chemical natural product found in American ginseng but not in Asian ginseng, although it has similar properties to the Asian ginseng compound ginsenoside Rf. The molecule is a triterpenoid saponin member of the dammarane family and contains a four-ring rigid skeleton. Compounds in the ginsenoside family are found almost exclusively in plants of the genus Panax. A wide variety of difficult-to-characterize in vitro effects have been reported for the compounds in isolation. Pseudoginsenoside F11 and its derivatives are sometimes referred to as having an ocotillol-type skeleton structure.
Dammarenes are derivatives of dammaranes that have a double bond.
Ginsenoside Rb1 (or Ginsenoside Rb1 or GRb1 or GRb1) is a chemical compound belonging to the ginsenoside family.
