Ginsenoside, Phenolic Acid Composition and Physiological Significances of Fermented Ginseng Leaf

This study was carried out to investigate the compositional changes of ginsenosides and phenolic acids of ginseng leaf by fermentation in order to promote the utilization of ginseng leaf. The chief ginsenosides in non-fermented ginseng leaf (NFGL) were ginsenoside-Rg1 (26.0 ㎎/g), -Re (47.3 ㎎/g) and -Rd (23.9 ㎎/g). By fermentation, ginsenoside-Rg1, -Rb1, -Rb2, -Rb3, -Rc and -Re were decreased tremendously and new ginsenoside-Rh2, -Rh1, -Rg2 and -Rg3 appeared. Especially, ginsenoside-Rg3 (3.7 ㎎/g) on FGL was increased 15-fold compared to that of NFGL (0.2 ㎎/g). Total phenolic compound content of NFGL and FGL measured by colorimetric analysis was 350.4 and 312.5 ㎎%, respectively. There were 8 free and 6 ester forms of phenolic acids in NFGL. Among them, content of ferulic acid was the highest, comprised of 12.6 and 50.7 ㎎%, respectively. In FGL, total content of protocatechuic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, and vanillic acid were increased by 28, 5 and 7.8 fold and ferulic acid was decreased greatly. Tyrosinase inhibitory activity of FGL was stronger than NFGL, while electron donating abilities of FGL were similar to NFGL.