Morphological Characterization, Chemical Components, and Biofunctional Activities of Panax ginseng, Panax quinquefolium, and Panax notoginseng Roots: A Comparative Study

The pharmacological activities of Panax ginseng, Panax quinquefolium, and Panax notoginseng as herbal medicinal resources were reviewed to evaluate their biofunctional effects. P. ginseng contains relatively many kinds of ginsenoside that possess pharmacological activity compared with P. quinquefolium and P. notoginseng. However, the ratio of panaxatriol and panaxadiol of ginsenoside in P. notoginseng is higher than those of P. ginseng and P. quinquefolium. The free sugar content of P. ginseng is similar to P. quinquefolium but is different from P. notoginseng. The total free amino acid content is highest in P. ginseng and lowest in P. notoginseng. P. ginseng has the highest antioxidative effects and P. ginseng and P. quinquefoilum possess more potent cytotoxicities on A549 and SK-OV-3 cell lines than P. notoginseng. Particularly, red ginseng of P. ginseng shows the highest antidiabetic effects, suggesting that it possesses activity to enhance insulin secretion as well as to prevent a destruction of pancreatic islet cells.