본 연구는 인삼과 산양삼의 부위별 중금속 분포양상을 조사하여 중금속 식이노출 저감화 방안을 모색하고자 하였다. 인삼과 산양삼은 지역별 배분을 통해 각각 14개 지역 및 5개 지역에서 시료를 채취하였으며, 각 부위별 중량 및 중금속 함량을 분석하였다. 중금속 분석을 위해 microwave 장치를 이용해 전처리한 후 납, 카드뮴 및 비소는 ICP-MS로 측정하고 알루미늄은 ICP를 이용한 분석법을 확립하였다. 인삼의 겉껍질은 전체의 16.2% 중량비를 차지하였으며, 산양삼의 겉껍질 및 잔뿌리는 각각 전체의 21.8%, 16.8%의 중량비를 차지하였다. 각 부위별 중량비와 중금속 농도를 고려하여 각 부위별 중금속 분포도를 산출하였다. 인삼 및 산양삼의 겉껍질은 전체에 차지하는 중량비에 비해 높은 중금속 함유량을 보이고 있었으며, 인삼의 경우 납의 40.3%, 카드뮴 25.9%, 비소 47.6%, 알루미늄 89.9%가 겉껍질에 잔존하고 있었으며 산양삼의 경우 납 27.2%, 카드뮴 28.2%, 비소 48.3%, 알루미늄 56.8%가 겉껍질에 존재하였다. 알루미늄을 제외하고 산양삼의 잔뿌리내 중금속 분포량은 겉껍질과 유의적 차이가 없었다. 따라서, 인삼 및 산양삼의 겉껍질을 벗기고 섭취 한다면 중금속 식이노출량을 크게 줄일 수 있음을 확인하였다.

This study was carried out to control the disease of wood-cultivated ginseng(panax ginseng) using natural materials. Four fungi spices such as Pythium ultimum, Alternaria alternata, Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizoctonia solani which caused disease of the wood-cultivated ginseng were investigated. The infection of these fungi causes symptom on roots, stems and leaves. The leaves became dry and die. The disease caused by Pythium ultimum can be prevented by using friendly environmental materials like Chamaecyparis obtuse essential oil and Wormstop. Alternaria alternata and Fusarium oxysporum might be prevented by using wormstop extracted from Neem tree(Azadirachta indica). No substance tested effectively prevents the growth of Rhizoctonia solani.

Background : Ginseng (Panax ginseng) has been reported to exert an anti-inflammatory activity in a variety of inflammatory. However, inflammation-regulatory activity of wood-cultivated ginseng has not been thoroughly evaluated. In this study, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory effect of wood-cultivated ginseng and elucidated the potential mechanisms in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. Methods and Results : Inhibitory effects of the old wood-cultivated ginseng (WCG-O), young wood-cultivated ginseng (WCG-Y) and ginseng (G) on NO and PGE2 production were examined using the Griess assay and ELISA kit. Suppressive effects of WCG-O on inflammatory gene expression, transcriptional activation, and inflammation signaling events were investigated using Western blot analysis, RT-PCR analysis and luciferase activity reporter gene assay. WCG-O dose-dependently suppressed nitric oxide (NO) and Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. In addition, WCG-O attenuated LPS-mediated overexpression of iNOS and COX-2. In addition, WCG-O blocked the expression of TNF-α and IL-1β in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. In elucidation of the potential mechanisms for anti-inflammatory effect, WCG-O inhibited the activation of IκK-α/β, the phosphorylation of IκB-α, and degradation of IκB-α, which results in the inhibition of p65 nuclear accumulation and NF-κB activation. In addition, WCG-O suppressed the activation of ERK1/2, p38 and JNK, which results in the inhibition of ATF2 nuclear accumulation. Conclusion : These results indicate that WCG-O may exert anti-inflammatory activity through the inhibiting NF-κB and MAPK signaling. From these findings, WCG-O has potential to be a candidate for the development of chemoprevention or therapeutic agents for the inflammatory diseases.

Background: Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer is wood-cultivated ginseng (WCG) in Korea which depends on an artificial forest growth method. To produce this type of ginseng, various P. ginseng cultivars can be used. To obtain a WCG similar to wild ginseng (WG), this method is usually performed in a mountain using seeds or seedlings of cultivated ginseng (CG) and WG. Recently, the WCG industry is suffering a problem in that Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F. H. Chen or Panax quinquefolium L. are being sold as WCG Korean market; These morphological similarities have created confusion among customers. Methods and Results: WCG samples were collected from five areas in Korea. After polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification using the primer pair labeled with fluorescence dye (FAM, NED, PET, or VIC), fragment analysis were performed. PCR products were separated by capillary electrophoresis with an ABI 3730 DNA analyzer. From the results, WCG cultivated in Korea showed very diverse genetic background. Conclusions: In this study, we tried to develop a method to discriminate between WCG, P. notoginseng or P. quinquefolium using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Furthermore, we analyzed the genetic diversity of WCG collected from five cultivation areas in Korea.