Korean Ginseng Berry Fermented by Mycotoxin Non-producing Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus oryzae: Ginsenoside Analyses and Anti-proliferative Activities

• Published in: Biological & pharmaceutical bulletin Vol. 39; no. 9; pp. 1461 - 1467
• Main Authors: Li, Zhipeng, Ahn, Hyung Jin, Kim, Nam Yeon, Lee, Yu Na, Ji, Geun Eog
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan 2016
• Subjects: anti-proliferation; Aspergillus niger - metabolism; Aspergillus oryzae - metabolism; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; Fermentation; Fruit - chemistry; ginsenoside; Ginsenosides - analysis; Ginsenosides - metabolism; Hep G2 Cells; HT29 Cells; Humans; Korean ginseng berry (KGB); mold; mycotoxin; Mycotoxins; Panax; Plant Extracts - chemistry; Plant Extracts - metabolism; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; transformation
• ISSN: 0918-6158; 1347-5215
• DOI: 10.1248/bpb.b16-00239

To transform ginsenosides, Korean ginseng berry (KGB) was fermented by mycotoxin non-producing Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus oryzae. Changes of ginsenoside profile and anti-proliferative activities were observed. Results showed that A. niger tended to efficiently transform protopanaxadiol (PPD) type ginsenosides such as Rb1, Rb2, Rd to compound K while A. oryzae tended to efficiently transform protopanaxatriol (PPT) type ginsenoside Re to Rh1 via Rg1. Butanol extracts of fermented KGB showed high cytotoxicity on human adenocarcinoma HT-29 cell line and hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cell line while that of unfermented KGB showed little. The minimum effective concentration of niger-fermented KGB was less than 2.5 µg/mL while that of oryzae-fermented KGB was about 5 µg/mL. As A. niger is more inclined to transform PPD type ginsenosides, niger-fermented KGB showed stronger anti-proliferative activity than oryzae-fermented KGB.