Classification and Basic Effects of Ginsenosides

• Classification

Ginsenosides are steroidal glycosides that can be categorized into dammarane-type and oleanane-type based on their glycogen skeleton, which constitutes a tetracyclic skeleton with sugar moieties and a pentacyclic skeleton containing oleanolic acid (an aglycone), respectively. The dammarane skeleton can be further categorized into the protopanaxadiols (PPD) and protopanaxatriols (PPT) types based on the attachment position of the sugar moiety, with the sugar component attached at 3rd and 6th positions of the triterpene structure respectively. Figure 1 summarized the classification of ginsenosides.

Fig. 1 Classification of ginsenosides

• Basic effects

Each ginsenoside may have different effects in pharmacology and mechanisms due to their different chemical structures. For example, mitochondria are responsible for the physiological and pathological processes of aerobic respiration-based cells in mammalian, while numerous studies have shown that ginsenosides can exert pharmacological effects by regulating mitochondrial (mito)-ROS, mito-apoptosis, mitobioenergetics, mito-biogenesis, mito-dynamics, and mitophagy. Figure 2 summarized multiple mitochondria-associated signaling pathways of several ginsenosides in targeting mitochondria to treat different diseases.

Fig. 2 Summary of the effects of different ginsenoside monomers on mitochondria function during neurological disorders, cancer, heart disease, hyperglycemia, and inflammation

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