Fermentation of Korean Red Ginseng by Lactobacillus plantarum M-2 and Its Immunological Activities

• Published in: Applied biochemistry and biotechnology 2011-11, Vol.165 (5-6), p.1107-1119
• Main Authors: Kim, Bong-Gwan, Shin, Kwang-Soon, Yoon, Taek Joon, Yu, Kwang-Won, Ra, Kyung Soo, Kim, Jin Man, Kim, Sun Young, Suh, Hyung Joo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Animals; Biochemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Female; Fermentation; Flowers & plants; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gram-positive bacteria; Humans; Immunity - drug effects; Immunologic Factors - chemistry; Immunologic Factors - metabolism; Immunologic Factors - pharmacology; Immunology; Lactobacillus plantarum; Lactobacillus plantarum - metabolism; Lung Neoplasms - drug therapy; Lung Neoplasms - immunology; Male; Metabolites; Metastasis; Methods. Procedures. Technologies; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Inbred ICR; Microbial engineering. Fermentation and microbial culture technology; Middle Aged; Panax - chemistry; Panax - metabolism; Panax - microbiology; Plant Extracts - chemistry; Plant Extracts - metabolism; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Plant Roots - chemistry; Plant Roots - metabolism; Plant Roots - microbiology
• ISSN: 0273-2289; 1559-0291
• DOI: 10.1007/s12010-011-9328-6

We investigated ginsenoside transformation by fermentation of red ginseng with Lactobacillus plantarum M-2. We also examined the anti-metastasis and immune-stimulating activities of EtOH extracts of fermented red ginseng (FRG-E) in animal and human subjects. Total sugar decreased from 85.5 mg mL −1 to 44.1 mg mL −1 with increasing culture time during the fermentation with L. plantarum M-2. Uronic acid content reached a maximum level (534.3 μg mL −1 ) at 3 days of fermentation and decreased thereafter. Ginsenoside metabolites increased from 4,637.0 to 7,581.1 μg mL −1 after 4 days. The prophylactic intraperitoneal injection of FRG-E (500 μg mouse −1 ) inhibited lung metastasis about 81.1%, while the inhibitory effect against tumor metastasis by treatment of EtOH extract from non-fermented red ginseng (NFRG-E) was 66.9%. Immunoglobulin A (IgA) and G (IgG) levels in the serum of healthy subjects were higher after FRG-E administration than at baseline, whereas NFRG-E induced reductions of these variables related to immunity. At 1 week, the change in IgA level by FRG-E (5.14 mg mL −1 ) was significantly higher than that by NFRG-E (−14.50 mg mL −1 ; p