In the food industry and herbal markets, it is critical to control the quality of processed Panax ginseng products. In this study, ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF/MS)-based metabolomics was applied for the quality evaluation of white ginseng (WG), tae-geuk ginseng (TG), red ginseng (RG), and black ginseng (BG). Diverse metabolites including ginsenosides were profiled by UPLC-QTOF/MS, and the datasets of WG, TG, RG, and BG were then subjected to multivariate analyses. In principal component analysis (PCA), four processed ginseng products were well-differentiated, and several ginsenosides were identified as major components of each product. S-plot also characterized the metabolic changes between two processed ginseng products, and the major ginsenosides of each product were found as follows: WG (M-Rb1, M-Rb2, M-Rc, Re, Rg1), TG (Rb2, Rc, Rd, Re, Rg1), RG (Rb1, Rb2, Rc, Rd, Re, Rg1), and BG (Rd, Rk1, Rg5, Rg3). Furthermore, the quantitative contents of ginsenosides were evaluated from the four processed ginseng products. Finally, it was indicated that the proposed metabolomics approach was useful for the quality evaluation and control of processed ginseng products.

The dried flowers of Chionanthus retusus were extracted with 80% MeOH, and the concentrate was divided into EtOAc, n-BuOH, and H₂O fractions. Repeated SiO₂, octadecyl SiO₂ (ODS), and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography of the EtOAc fraction led to the isolation of four flavonols (1–4), three flavones (5–7), four flavanonols (8–11), and one flavanone (12), which were identified based on extensive analysis of various spectroscopic data. Flavonoids 4–6 and 8–11 were isolated from the flowers of C. retusus for the first time in this study. Flavonoids 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, and 10–12 significantly inhibited NO production in RAW 264.7 cells stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and glutamate-induced cell toxicity and effectively increased HO-1 protein expression in mouse hippocampal HT22 cells. Flavonoids with significant neuroprotective activity were also found to recover oxidative-stress-induced cell damage by increasing HO-1 protein expression. This article demonstrates that flavonoids from C. retusus flowers have significant potential as therapeutic materials in inflammation and neurodisease.

Malva verticillata (Cluster mallow), a leafy vegetable that has been popular in East Asia for a long time, has also been used in herbal teas and medicines. The aqueous fraction of the aerial parts of Malva verticillata, exhibiting a very high quantity of flavonoids compared to the EtOAc and n-BuOH fractions, exhibited significant recovery effects on pancreatic islets damaged by alloxan in zebrafish larvae. Thus, the bioactive components responsible for this anti-diabetic activity were investigated. A new flavonoid glucuronide (1) and five known flavonoids were isolated from the aqueous fraction. Based on several spectroscopic methods, compound 1 was identified to be nortangeretin-8-O-β-d-glucuronide, and was named malvaflavone A. The A-ring of compound 1 had a 5,6,7,8-tetrahydroxy moiety, which rarely occurs in plant systems. Also 8-O-glucuronide attached to the flavonoid moiety was rarely occurred in plant system. Compounds 1, 3, 4, and 6 significantly improved the pancreatic islet size in zebrafish at 0.1 μM, and compounds 1 and 6 were found to block β-cell K⁺ channels in experiments with diazoxide. In ABTS, ORAC, and SOD assays, compounds 1–5 exhibited high anti-oxidant activities compared with quercetin and BHA (positive controls), indicating that the 8-O-glucuronide attached to the flavonoid moiety is a key structure for the expression of anti-oxidant activity. This is the first report of the isolation of compounds 1–6 from M. verticillata as well evaluated for anti-diabetic and anti-oxidant ativities.

(1) Background: Many flavonoids have been reported to exhibit pharmacological activity; a preparatory study confirmed that Coreopsis lanceolata flowers (CLFs) contained high flavonoid structure content; (2) Methods: CLFs were extracted in aqueous methanol (MeOH:H₂O = 4:1) and fractionated into acetic ester (EtOAc), normal butanol (n-BuOH), and H₂O fractions. Repeated column chromatographies for two fractions led to the isolation of two aurones and two flavonols; (3) Results: Four flavonoids were identified based on a variety of spectroscopic data analyses to be leptosidin (1), leptosin (2), isoquercetin (3), and astragalin (4), respectively. This is the first report for isolation of 2–4 from CLFs. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis determined the content levels of compounds 1–4 in the MeOH extract to be 2.8 ± 0.3 mg/g (1), 17.9 ± 0.9 mg/g (2), 3.0 ± 0.2 mg/g (3), and 10.9 ± 0.9 mg/g (4), respectively. All isolated compounds showed radical scavenging activities and recovery activities in Caco-2, RAW264.7, PC-12, and HepG2 cells against reactive oxygen species. MeOH extract, EtOAc fraction, and 1–3 suppressed NO formation in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells and decreased iNOS and COX-2 expression. Furthermore, all compounds recovered the pancreatic islets damaged by alloxan treatment in zebrafish; (4) Conclusions: The outcome proposes 1–4 to serve as components of CLFs in standardizing anti-oxidant, pro-inflammatory inhibition, and potential anti-diabetic agents.

A new ginsenoside, named ginsenoside Rh23 (1), and 20-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl-3β,6α,12β,20β,25-pentahydroxydammar-23-ene (2) were isolated from the leaves of hydroponic Panax ginseng. Compounds were isolated by various column chromatography and their structures were determined based on spectroscopic methods, including high resolution quadrupole/time of flight mass spectrometry (HR-QTOF/MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and infrared (IR) spectroscopy. To determine anti-melanogenic activity, the change in the melanin content in melan-a cells treated with identified compounds was tested. Additionally, we investigated the melanin inhibitory effects of ginsenoside Rh23 on pigmentation in a zebrafish in vivo model. Compound 1 inhibited potent melanogenesis in melan-a cells with 37.0% melanogenesis inhibition at 80 µM and also presented inhibition on the body pigmentation in zebrafish model. Although compound 2 showed slightly lower inhibitory activity than compound 1, it also showed significantly decreased melanogenesis in melan-a cell and in zebrafish model. These results indicated that compounds isolated from hydroponic P. ginseng may be used as new skin whitening compound through the in vitro and in vivo systems. Furthermore, this study demonstrated the utility of MS-based compound 1 for the quantitative analysis. Ginsenoside Rh23 (1) was found at a level of 0.31 mg/g in leaves of hydroponic P. ginseng.