The results indicate that extrusion cooking has great potential as an effective pretreatment for changing the quality of ginseng. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. This research was supported by the Project for Development in Technology of Agriculture, Industry,

and Commerce Fusion, which was conducted by the Small and Medium Business Administrations (Hanbit Food Ltd., Chungnam, South Korea). “
“Panax spp. occur in the northern hemisphere and mostly in temperate regions. In 1973, a wild Panax species was found at Mount Ngoc Linh in Central Vietnam. The plant was then identified as Panax vietnamensis Ha et Grushv., a new Panax species and now commonly known as Vietnamese ginseng Selleck p38 MAPK inhibitor (VG), which is the most southern Panax plant discovered so far. It has been used by the Sedang ethnic group as a miraculous herbal medicine selleck chemical for enhancement of physical strength and treatment of many diseases with similar therapeutic indications as those of Panax ginseng [1]. VG contains not only protopanaxadiol (PPD) and protopanaxatriol (PPT) saponins such as ginsenoside Rb1, Rd, Re, Rg1, but also ocotillol saponins, such as majonoside R1, R2 (in high yield), and vina-ginsenoside R1 and R2 ( Fig. 1) [1], [2], [3], [4] and [5].

Majonoside R2 constitutes >5% of the dried weight of VG [2]. In addition, ocotillol saponins, especially majonoside R2 exert remarkable pharmacological effects on the central nervous system such as antistress, antidepressive, and anxiolytic activities, which distinguishes VG from other Panax species [6], [7], [8], [9], [10] and [11]. P. ginseng,

or Korean ginseng (KG), has been regarded as an important and valuable oriental herbal medicine for thousands of years. Recently, a new type of processed ginseng, named as Sun Ginseng (SG), was reported as a steamed ginseng at higher temperature than that used for the preparation of red ginseng [12]. SG contains a high yield of less polar ginsenosides, especially Rg3, Rg5, and Rk1, which showed a stronger anticancer activity. Increased pharmacological activities including antioxidant, vasodilating, MycoClean Mycoplasma Removal Kit and antitumor promoting activities have been reported for SG [12] and [13]. These active ginsenosides could be generated from ginsenoside Rb1, Rb2, Rc, and Rd via hydrolysis, dehydration, and deglycosylation during the steaming process [14]. This study aimed to investigate the influence of different durations of steaming on the saponin composition as well as the antiproliferative and antioxidant activities of processed VG. Vietnamese ginseng (VG) was collected in Quangnam Province, Vietnam in 2010. A voucher specimen was deposited at the herbarium of College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea (SNUP-2012-A-01).