ASSESSMENT OF TRADITIONAL QUALITY CRITERIA OF PANAX GINSENG BY BIOLOGICAL ACTIVE COMPOUNDS.

Authors:	H. Park, M. Lee
Keywords:	ginsenosides, soluble nitrogen compound, root part, multicompound-multitarget mode prophylactic
Abstract: Since Korea ginseng has been used for more than 4000 years and included in 28% of recipes of Oriental pharmacopoeia, there are still strict and unique quality control measures in cultivation and processing. Major chemical compounds of 17 groups with secondary metabolites were assessed in relation to the traditional quality criteria(age, weight and shape of root, compactness and red coloring of tissue, root trim etc) with the content of compound in each part of ginseng and their efficacies reported. Ginsenoside that are unique in ginseng, thus known as most preference compound for pharmacologist and biochemist and as index compound in the processed products appeared to be not in well accordance with the traditional quality criteria, soluble nitrogen compounds seemed to match well. This assessment suggested that ginseng should be considered to attribute its efficacy as the upper class herb in Oriental medicine to multicompounds that may have each counterpart physiological target. This study indicated that for searching active compounds of medicinal plant it must be grouped according to the traditional class of use for the expectation of the number of active compounds.
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