Fermented Wild Ginseng by Rhizopus oligosporus Improved l-Carnitine and Ginsenoside Contents
Ganghee Lee, Thi Thanh Hanh Nguyen, Tae Yun Lim, Juho Lim, Byeongsu Park, Seonmin Lee, Il-Kyoon Mok, Kunal Pal, Sangyong Lim, Doman Kim
Abstract
fermentation of wild ginseng was carried out at 30 °C for between 1 and 14 days. Fourteen ginsenosides and l-carnitine were analyzed in the fermented wild ginseng by the ultra high pressure liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) system. Our results showed that the total amount of ginsenosides in ginseng increased from 3,274 to 5,573 mg/kg after 14 days of fermentation. Among the 14 ginsenosides tested, the amounts of 13 ginsenosides (Rg1, Rb2, Rb3, Rc, Rd, Re, Rf, Rg2, Rg3, Rh1, compound K, F1 and F2) increased, whereas ginsenoside Rb1 decreased, during the fermentation. Furthermore, l-carnitine (630 mg/kg) was newly synthesized in fermented ginseng extract after 14 days. In addition, both total phenol contents and DPPH radical scavenging activities showed an increase in the fermented ginseng with respect to non-fermented ginseng. These results show that the fermentation process reduced the cytotoxicity of wild ginseng against RAW264.7 cells. Both wild and fermented wild ginseng showed anti-inflammatory activity via inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis in RAW264.7 murine macrophage cells.