Investigation of ginsenosides in different parts and ages of Panax ginseng

Panax ginseng (P, ginseng) has been used as a traditional medicine for thousands of years. It includes P. ginseng root, leaf, root-hair, rhizome and stem. P. ginseng root is usually considered to be the main part for medicine, and other parts of P. ginseng are neglected. In this paper the content of ginsenosides in different parts and ages of P. ginseng was determined. Separation and determination of seven major ginsenosides, including Rg(1), Re, Rb-1, Rc, Rb-2, Rb-3 and Rd, has been achieved by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV detector at 203 nm. The extraction of ginsenosides from P. ginseng material was performed by microwave-assisted extraction (MAE). The results indicate that the content of ginsenosides is higher in the leaf and root-hair, and lower in stem than that in other parts of P. ginseng. The content of ginsenosides in root and root-hair increases with increase in age of P. ginseng from one to five years. However, the total content of ginsenosides in P. ginseng leaf decreases with the increase in age. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.