The Effect Of Cellulose, Starch And Amino Acids On The Hydrolysis Of Ginsenoside

Ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Mey), a member of the Araliaceae family, is a precious Chinesetraditional medicine containing complex chemical compositions such as ginsenosides, amino acids,essential oils, sugars, fatty acid and so on, of which ginsenosides palys the most important role inginseng’s pharmacological activities. Ginsenosides experience significant conversion during theprocessing procedure of ginseng. Taking the different types of ginseng saponins (glycol typeginsenosides Rb1, triol-type ginsenosides Re and oleanolic acid type ginsenoside Ro), by addingcellulose, starch and arginine to the reaction system for processing, we studied the effect of process onthe conversion of saponin. The results were as follows:1. Several methods of columnchromatography and recrystallization were adopted to isolate andpurify chemical compositions of the ginseng three compounds: the Rb1(Panaxadiol Saponin), Re(Panaxatriol Saponin) and Ro (Oleanolic-acid Saponin) were identified according to theirphysicochemical properties and spectral characteristics.2. Cellulose can not only promote the conversion from Rb1(Panaxadiol Saponin) to Rg3, Rg5andRk1, but also the conversion from Re (Panaxatriol Saponin) to Rg2, Rg6and F4. In the reaction solutionof0.5mL, the cellulose content in the range of2.85mg to11.56mg, transformation ratio rised with theincreasing amount of cellulose. On the other side, cellulose has no significant effect on Ro(Oleanolic-acid Saponin) conversion.3. Starch had no significant effect on the Rb1(Panaxadiol Saponin), Re (Panaxatriol Saponin) andRo (Oleanolic-acid Saponin).4. Arginine inhibited the conversion of Rb1(Panaxadiol Saponin) and Re (Panaxatriol Saponin) in asignificant way, but it boosted the conversion from Oleanolic-acid Saponin Ro to zingibroside R1. Inaddition, the conversion ratio of Ro was not affected by the increasing amount of arginine.5. The effects of cellulose, starch and arginine to ginseng and American ginseng in processingshow that the impact of cellulose and starch had similar effects on the conversion of the extractive fromfreeze-dried ginseng and freeze-dried ginseng as mentioned above. However, arginine significantlypromoted the conversion of zingibroside R1of freeze-dried ginseng and freeze-dried ginseng. In thereaction solution of0.5mL, the arginine content in the range of0.61mg to2.83mg, the conversion ofzingibroside R1rised with the increasing of arginine.