| Ginsenosides Rg{dollar}sb1{dollar}, Re, Rd, and Rb{dollar}sb1{dollar} were isolated from Panax quinquefolius, and identified by spectroscopic data and comparison with authentic samples. Routine HPLC analyses of the ginsenoside content of ginseng roots and preparations were developed employing rebaudioside A as an internal standard. Quantitative analyses of P. ginseng, quinquefolius, P. notoginseng, and P. pseudo-ginseng ssp. himalaicus were carried out using both solvent extraction and HPLC methods.; Neither the water extract nor the 1-butanol extract of P. quinquefolius showed any mutagenic potential. A bioassay for screening substances capable of elevating intracellular cAMP was developed. The water extract of P. quinquefolius and ginsenosides R{dollar}sb0{dollar}, Rb{dollar}sb1{dollar}, Rb{dollar}sb2{dollar}, Rb{dollar}sb3{dollar}, Rc, Rd, Re, Rg{dollar}sb1{dollar}, and Rg{dollar}sb2{dollar} were all found to be inactive in the system.; The water extracts of both P. ginseng and P. quinquefolius were found to have antifatigue activity equivalent to that of caffeine in rats. After fractionation, the antifatigue activity was found in the non-ginsenoside, non-polysaccharide fractions which were shown to contain free sugars such as sucrose and glucose. Sucrose was found to be responsible for the antifatigue activity observed.; The antistress effect of ginseng was demonstrated during the treadmill antifatigue experiments by virtue of a decreased fecal boli count for rats receiving ginseng. Further studies showed that the decrease in fecal boli was not due to an anticholinergic effect of the ginseng.; The effects of each ginseng extract on the locomotor activity of rats were also studied. No significant increase or decrease of locomotor activity was observed. |
