Planta Med 2013; 79 - PH3
DOI: 10.1055/s-0033-1348593

Bioactive Polysaccharides of North American Ginseng Panax quinquefolius L. in Modulation of Immune Function: Preliminary Chemical and Biological Characterization

JA Guerrero-Analco 1, 2, CG Azike 1, 3, AA Romeh 4, PA Charpentier 1, 4, H Pei 1, 3, EMK Lui 1, 3, JT Arnason 1, 2
  • 1Ontario Ginseng Innovation and Research Consortium (OGIRC)
  • 2Centre for Advanced Enviromental Genomics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
  • 3Department of Physiology & Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario (UWO), London, ON, Canada
  • 4Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, UWO, London, ON, Canada

Of the two major species of ginseng: Panax ginseng (Asian) and P. quinquefolius (North American), Asian has received the most study. While much research on both species has focussed on the medicinal benefits of the ginsenoside fraction, recently, polysaccharides (PS) components of ginseng have received attention because of the emergence of different biological activities. Specifically, the PS fraction of ginseng has been shown to have immunomodulatory effects, although they are poorly characterized from the chemical point of view. Several polysaccharides have been identified in P. ginseng and P. notoginseng but these compounds have been rarely studied in the North American species. This is because structural characteristics of PS components are poorly understood due to a lack of methodologies for separation as well as quantitative and qualitative analysis. In this work, monosaccharide components of P. quinquefolius roots were examined using a newly developed high performance liquid chromatography-evaporative light scattering detection method (HPLC-ELSD). This method allowed the identification and quantitation of five monosaccharides in American ginseng species, with the potential to identify seven compounds. In addition, we initiated the chemical characterization of the water soluble immunostimulant active polysaccharides in their unhydrolysed form. For this, further work was also conducted to fractionate a bulk crude ginseng PS extract using gel permeation (GPC) and ion exchange chromatography techniques. Besides the preliminary phytochemical characterization, immunomodulatory activity of the obtained PS fractions was assessed using a combination of in vivo and in vitro models.