The use of in vitro tissue culture for herbal medicines has been recognized as a valuable source of botanical secondary metabolites. The tissue culture of ginseng species is used in the production of bioactive compounds such as phenolics, polysaccharides, and especially ginsenosides, which are utilized in the food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. This review paper focuses on the in vitro culture of Panax ginseng and accumulation of ginsenosides. In vitro culture has been applied to study organogenesis and biomass culture, and is involved in direct organogenesis for rooting and shooting from explants and in indirect morphogenesis for somatic embryogenesis via the callus, which is a mass of disorganized cells. Biomass production was conducted with different types of tissue cultures, such as adventitious roots, cell suspension, and hairy roots, and subsequently on a large scale in a bioreactor. This review provides the cumulative knowledge of biotechnological methods to increase the ginsenoside resources of P. ginseng. In addition, ginsenosides are summarized at enhanced levels of activity and content with elicitor treatment, together with perspectives of new breeding tools which can be developed in P. ginseng in the future.

Serial alcohol consumption causes alcoholic liver disease (ALD), which can lead to fatty liver, hepatitis, and cirrhosis. Terminalia ferdinandiana (Kakadu plum) is an indigenous fruit of Australia, which is utilized as a functional food. It is a commercially important antioxidant as it contains a more eloquent level of ascorbic acid than other oranges. In this study, we analyzed the chemical constituents of vitamin C, gallic acid, ellagic acid, and daidzin via High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in the Kakadu plum from two different regions including the Northern Territory (NT) and Western Australia (WA), and compared their biochemical properties. The vitamin C content was much higher (almost 70%) in Kakadu plum (KKD) from the NT than WA. Moreover, ROS generation was inhibited significantly in HepG2 (human hepatoma) cells with the KKD-NT extract treatment when compared to the KKD-WA extract treatment. The cytotoxicity produced by ethanol was significantly suppressed in response to the treatment with both of the samples. In addition, our samples (KKD-NT and KKD-WA) increased the activity of two key enzymes involving alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) that metabolize ethanol. These results show the biochemical confirmation of the mechanism by which KKD exhibits its biological functions including relief from alcohol hangovers as well as protection of the liver cells by the suppression of ROS production and toxic insults.

Background: Ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) is a cultivated medicinal herb that has been widely available in the Asian region since the last century. Ginseng root is used worldwide in Oriental medicine. Currently, the global mortality and infection rates for lung cancer and inflammation are significantly increasing. Therefore, various preventative methods related to the activity of ginsenosides have been used for lung cancer as well as inflammation. Methods: Web-based searches were performed on Web of Science, Springer, PubMed, and Scopus. A cancer statistical analysis was also conducted to show the current ratio of affected cases and death from lung cancer around the world. Results: Ginsenosides regulate the enzymes that participate in tumor growth and migration, such as nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), extracellular signalregulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2), the gelatinase network metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2/9) and activator protein 1 (AP-1). In addition, ginsenosides also possess anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting the formation of proinflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-α) (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and controlling the activities of inflammatory signalling pathways, such as NF-κB, Janus kinase2/signal transducer, and activator of transcription 3 (Jak2/Stat3). Conclusion: In several in vitro and in vivo models, P. ginseng showed potential beneficial effects in lung cancer and inflammation treatment. In this review, we provide a detailed and up-to-date summary of research evidence for antilung cancer and anti-inflammatory protective effects of ginsenosides and their potential molecular mechanisms.

Plant extract, a natural source containing complex mixture of compounds, offers many properties such as antiparasitic, antibiotic, antioxidant, anti-hypertensive, antiviral, insecticide, anticancer, antifungal, hypoglycemic properties. Recent research has been focused on developing formulation the plant extracts not only to deliver them safely but also to enhance its therapeutic efficacy. Nanotechnology-based strategies have been proposed as a system that can be used to formulate plant extracts. Plant extract loaded nanoparticles (NPs) is aimed to facilitate in crossing the biological barriers, to increase bioavailability of poorly water-soluble phytochemicals, to encapsulate mixture compounds of different phytochemicals, to provide targeted delivery of phytochemicals to specific organs resulting in low toxicity, to get effective purification process, to mask unpleasant taste and odor, to protect sensitive phytochemicals from biological (e.g. enzyme, pH) and environmental (e.g. light, temperature, humidity) degradation, to control release of encapsulated phytochemicals, and to provide a more flexible control over the size and shape of the NPs. This review is focused on plant extract loaded NPs including its advantages, stages for developing formulation of plant extract loaded NPs, and nanosystem used to loading plant extract. In addition, this review also depicts studies which have been conducted by many researchers in developing plant extract loaded NPs. The data were collected from published journals with 21 and 39 journals as primary and supporting literatures, respectively. Plant extracts loaded NPs could be a promising delivery system for active phytochemical contained in the plant extract which is not only to deliver them safely but also to enhance its therapeutic efficacy.Keywords: plant, extract, nanoparticle

Terminalia ferdinandiana (Kakadu plum) is an Australian native plant that has recently gained the attention of researchers due to its highly antioxidant compounds that have substantial health benefits. To raise the value, in this study, it is used for the first time to synthesize ZnO nanoparticles for anti-lung cancer and anti-inflammatory activities. The formation of KKD-ZnO-NPs (ZnO particles obtained from Kakadu plum) were confirmed using a UV-Visible spectrophotometer. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis confirmed the functional groups that are responsible for the stabilization and capping of KKD-ZnO-NPs. The flower shape of the synthesized KKD-ZnO-NPs was confirmed by field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and field emission-transmission electron microscopy (FE-TEM) analyses. The crystallites were highly pure and had an average size of 21.89 nm as measured by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The dynamic light scattering (DLS) revealed size range of polydisperse KKD-ZnO-NPs was 676.65 ± 47.23 nm with a PDI of 0.41 ± 0.0634. Furthermore, the potential cytotoxicity was investigated in vitro against human lung cancer cell lines (A549) and Raw 264.7 Murine macrophages cells as normal cells to ensure safety purposes using MTT assay. Thus, KKD-ZnO-NPs showed prominent cytotoxicity against human lung adenocarcinoma (A549) at 10 μg/mL and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production as well, which could promote toxicity to cancer cells. Moreover, upregulation of p53 and downregulation of bcl2 gene expression as apoptosis regulators were confirmed via RT-PCR. In addition, KKD-ZnO-NPs possess a similar capacity of reduction in proinflammatory-nitric oxide (NO) production when compared to the L-NMMA as inflammation’s inhibitor, indicating anti-inflammatory potential. Incorporation of Kakadu plum extract as reducing and stabilizing agents enabled the green synthesis of flower-shaped KKD-ZnO-NPs that could be an initiative development of effective cancer therapy drug.

CRMG (Cultured Roots of Mountain Ginseng) have the advantages in scale-up production, safety, and pharmacological efficacies. Though several methods are available for the conversion of major to minor ginsenosides, which has more pharmacological activities, a single step process with high temperature and pressure as a puffing method took place in this study to gain and produce more pharmacologically active compounds. Puffed CRMG exhibited an acceleration of major ginsenosides to minor ginsenosides conversions, and released more phenolic and flavonoid compounds. HPLC analysis was used to detect a steep decrease in the contents of major ginsenosides (Re, Rf, Rg1, Rg2, Rb1, Rb2, Rb3, Rc and Rd) with increasing pressure; on the contrary, the minor ginsenosides (20 (S, R)-Rg3, Rg5, Rk1, Rh1, Rh2, Rg6, F4 and Rk3) contents increased. Minor ginsenosides, such as Rg6, F4 and Rk3, were firstly reported to be produced from puffed CRMG. After the puffing process, phenolics, flavonoids, and minor ginsenoside contents were increased, and also, the antioxidant properties, such as DPPH inhibition and reducing the power of puffed CRMG, were significantly enhanced. Puffed CRMG at 490.3 kPa and 588.4 kPa had a low toxicity on HaCaT (immortalized human epidermal keratinocyte) cells at 200 μg/mL, and could significantly reduce ROS by an average of 60%, compared to the group treated with H₂O₂. Therefore, single step puffing of CRMG has the potential to be utilized for functional food and cosmeceuticals.