School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong; Department of Metabolomics, Jiangsu Province Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Jiangsu Branch of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China.
School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong.
Phytomedicine. 2020 Aug;74:152761. doi: 10.1016/j.phymed.2018.11.021. Epub 2018 Nov 19.
Ginseng has therapeutic potential for treating obesity and the associated gut microbiota dysbiosis. However, whether white ginseng and red ginseng, the two kinds of commonly used processed ginseng, possess different anti-obesity effects remains unknown.
Anti-obesity effects of water extracts of white ginseng and red ginseng (WEWG and WERG) were compared, and the potential mechanisms were discussed.
Chemical profiles of WEWG and WERG were characterized by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QqQ-MS/MS) and high performance liquid chromatography coupled with evaporative light scattering detector (HPLC-ELSD). Anti-obesity effects of WEWG/WERG were examined by determining fat accumulation, systemic inflammation, enteric metabolic disorders and gut microbiota dysbiosis in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed obese mice.
Both WEWG and WERG exerted anti-obesity effects, with WEWG stronger than WERG. Compared to WERG, WEWG contained less contents of carbohydrates (polysaccharides, oligosaccharides, free monosaccharides) and ginsenosides, but chemical structures or compositions of these components in WEWG were characteristic, i.e. narrower molecular weight distribution and higher molar ratios of glucose residues of polysaccharides; higher content ratios of oligosaccharides DP2-3 (di-/tri-saccharides)-to-oligosaccharides DP4-7 (tetra-/penta-/hexa-/hepta-saccharides), sucrose-to-melibiose, maltose-to-trehalose and high-polar-to-low-polar ginsenosides. WEWG better ameliorated fat accumulation, enteric metabolic disorders and gut microbiota dysbiosis in HFD-fed obese mice than WERG.
The stronger anti-obesity effect of white ginseng appears to correlate with differences in its chemical profile as compared to red ginseng. The carbohydrates and ginsenosides in WEWG potentially present more structural and compositional specificity to the obesity-associated gut bacteria, allowing more beneficial effects of WEWG on the gut microbiota dysbiosis. This consequently better alleviates the enteric metabolic disorders and systemic inflammation, thereby contributing to the stronger anti-obesity effect of WEWG as compared to WERG.
人参对治疗肥胖症和相关肠道微生物失调具有潜在的治疗作用。然而，白参和红参这两种常用的加工人参是否具有不同的抗肥胖作用尚不清楚。
比较白参和红参水提取物（WEWG 和 WERG）的抗肥胖作用，并探讨其潜在机制。
采用超高效液相色谱-串联三重四极杆质谱联用（UHPLC-QqQ-MS/MS）和高效液相色谱-蒸发光散射检测器（HPLC-ELSD）对 WEWG 和 WERG 的化学成分进行了表征。通过测定高脂肪饮食（HFD）喂养肥胖小鼠的脂肪积累、全身炎症、肠道代谢紊乱和肠道微生物失调，研究了 WEWG/WERG 的抗肥胖作用。
WEWG 和 WERG 均具有抗肥胖作用，且 WEWG 作用强于 WERG。与 WERG 相比，WEWG 含有较少的碳水化合物（多糖、寡糖、游离单糖）和人参皂苷，但 WEWG 中这些成分的化学结构或组成具有特征性，即多糖的分子量分布较窄，葡萄糖残基的摩尔比更高；寡糖 DP2-3（二/三糖）与寡糖 DP4-7（四/五/六/七糖）、蔗糖与棉子糖、麦芽糖与海藻糖以及高极性低极性人参皂苷的含量比值较高。WEWG 改善 HFD 喂养肥胖小鼠的脂肪积累、肠道代谢紊乱和肠道微生物失调的效果优于 WERG。
白参的抗肥胖作用强于红参，可能与其化学成分的差异有关。WEWG 中的碳水化合物和人参皂苷可能对肥胖相关的肠道细菌具有更多的结构和组成特异性，从而使 WEWG 对肠道微生物失调产生更多有益的作用。这进而更好地缓解了肠道代谢紊乱和全身炎症，从而导致 WEWG 的抗肥胖作用强于 WERG。
