Studies on the Absorption, Distribution, Excretion and Metabolism of Ginseng Saponins. I. Quantitative Analysis of Ginsenoside Rg₁ in Rats

Abstract

Quantitative analysis of ginsenoside Rg₁, isolated from red ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. MEYER) and one of the main saponins, was experimented in rats for the studies of the absorption, distribution, excretion and metabolism of ginseng saponins. The analysis procedure was developed as follows. Ginsenoside Rg₁ added to biological samples of rats was adsorbed on a Servachrom XAD-2 resin column after deproteinization with methanol. The adsorbed ginsenoside Rg₁ was eluted with 60% methanol aqueous solution and further subjected to thin-layer chromatography with chloroform-methanol-water (65 : 35 : 10, lower phase) as the developing solvent and 8% vanillin methanol solution/72% H₂SO₄ (1 : 5) as the detecting reagent. As reasonable recoveries and standard deviations were found in this procedure, the concentrations of ginsenoside Rg₁ in samples from rats treated with ginsenoside Rg₁ (100 mg/kg, p. o.) were determined by applying the described method.