Diversity of Ginsenoside Profiles Produced by Different Processing Technologies

The distribution of ginsenosides varies in different species of ginseng. Among the ginsenosides isolated from ginseng plants to date, Rb1, Rb2, Rc, Rd, Re, Rf and Rg1 generally constitute for more than 90% of the total ginsenosides and are usually considered to be the major ginsenosides. The distribution of these major ginsenosides varies greatly depending on the environmental effects and various types of processing technologies.

Specifically, the selection of processing techniques plays an important role in the application and utilization of ginseng, because the processing conditions lead to changes in ginsenoside constituents. Various ginseng processing techniques, such as physical, chemical, and biological treatments, are outlined in Figure 1 ^[1].

Fig. 1 Various ginseng processing techniques *PPT, protopanaxatriol; PPD, protopanaxadiol; C17SCV, C17 side-chain varied; OA, oleanolic acid; Syn-G, synthetic ginsenoside; G, ginsenoside; Ma, malonyl.

Physical methods are widely used to process fresh ginseng into consumer products. The commonly used physical processing methods include dehydration, steaming, sulfur fumigation, microwave treatment, etc.; The common chemical methods include acid hydrolysis and alkaline hydrolysis; Bioprocessing methods have the advantages of strong selectivity, mild reaction conditions, reduction of undesirable by-products, and simple reprocessing, and are commonly used in ginseng processing.

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