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.

Ginsenosides are a group of bioactive compounds isolated from Panax ginseng. Conventional major ginsenosides have a long history of use in traditional medicine for both illness prevention and therapy. Bioconversion processes have the potential to create new and valuable products in pharmaceutical and biological activities, making them both critical for research and highly economic to implement. This has led to an increase in the number of studies that use major ginsenosides as a precursor to generate minor ones using β-glucosidase. Minor ginsenosides may also have useful properties but are difficult to isolate from raw ginseng because of their scarcity. Bioconversion processes have the potential to create novel minor ginsenosides from the more abundant major ginsenoside precursors in a cost-effective manner. While numerous bioconversion techniques have been developed, an increasing number of studies have reported that β-glucosidase can effectively and specifically generate minor ginsenosides. This paper summarizes the probable bioconversion mechanisms of two protopanaxadiol (PPD) and protopanaxatriol (PPT) types. Other high-efficiency and high-value bioconversion processes using complete proteins isolated from bacterial biomass or recombinant enzymes are also discussed in this article. This paper also discusses the various conversion and analysis methods and their potential applications. Overall, this paper offers theoretical and technical foundations for future studies that will be both scientifically and economically significant.

The family Thymelaeaceae, which includes huge evergreen trees that are sparsely distributed in tropical rainforests, includes the genus Aquilaria. Numerous medical conditions, including inflammation, cancer, and oxidative stress have been traditionally treated using Aquilaria agallocha and Aquilaria malaccensis. In this study, we evaluated in silico and biological activity with A. agallocha and A. malaccensis sample for more conformation. Raw 264.7 macrophage cells and HacaT cells were used, together with the MTT, ROS, NO, and wound healing assays, to investigate the possible cytotoxicity in A549 lung cancer. Thus, A. agallocha and A. malaccensis showed significant cytotoxicity against A549 cancer cells at 1000 µg/mL. Furthermore, we observed an elevated ROS level in cancer cells. The wound healing assay showed cancer cell inhibition activity. While BCL-2 decreased in the intrinsic route, p53, Bax, Caspase 3, and Caspase 9 were elevated by A.A and A.M. Additionally, we have also conducted an in silico evaluation followed by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, along with ADMET and biological activity prediction to further validate the experimental results. In normal cells, both samples showed less toxicity at 1000 µg/mL and suppressed the LPS-treated NO and ROS levels against the inflammation. Additionally, A.A and A.M suppressed the pro-inflammatory gene expression of COX-2, iNOS, TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-8 in RAW 264.7 cells. On the other hand, A.A and A.M extract effectively suppressed oxidative stress by increasing the antioxidative gene expression in H₂O₂-induced HaCat cells at 50 μg/mL. This study revealed that the plant extracts from A. agallocha and A. malaccensis could exert a cytotoxic effect on lung adenocarcinoma cells through the activation of an intrinsic signaling pathway. Moreover, it could be a potential source of anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-cancer agents after consideration of in vivo and clinical studies.

Biogenic synthesis using medicinal plants has less harmful effects as compared to the chemical synthesis of nanoparticles. Here, for the first time, we successfully demonstrated the eco-friendly synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) using an aqueous extract of Cissus antractica. The green synthesis method offers great potential for developing new medications that enhance drug bioavailability. The current work highlighted the cytotoxicity, cell death, and routes of apoptosis in lung cancer cells (A549) and inflammatory effects through synthesizing zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) from the Cissus antractica plant using an eco-friendly methodology. UV–visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were also used to characterize the synthesized ZnO nanoparticles. The average size of the NPs was 100 nm, and the NPs were crystalline in nature, as confirmed by FE-TEM and XRD analysis, respectively. In addition, the morphology of the nanoparticles analyzed by FE-TEM showed a spherical shape. The cell viability assay indicated that CA-ZnO NPs are non-toxic to normal cell lines at concentrations up to 20 µg/mL but showed significant toxicity in the A549 cell line. The nanoformulation also increased the ROS generation level in A549 lung cancer cells, and cellular apoptosis was confirmed via Hoechst and PI staining. The CA-ZnO NPs showed significant colony inhibition as well as cell migration ability that highlighted the CA-ZnO NPs as an anticancer agent. Additionally, this study demonstrated that NPs reduced the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and enhanced the expression of genes for BAX accumulation by releasing Cyto-c, but decreased Bcl-2 gene expression via the mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis pathway. In addition, the anti-inflammatory effect was also investigated; the CA-ZnO NPs showed significant NO inhibition ability with suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, iNOS, COX-2, IL-6, IL-8). In conclusion, Cissus antractica can be a source of significant Nano drugs with more advanced research in order to develop future anti-inflammatory and anticancer medications.

Dendropanax morbifera (DM), a medicinal plant, is rich in polyphenols and commonly used to treat cancer, inflammation, and thrombosis. However, to date, no study has been conducted on DM regarding the enormous drift of secondary metabolites of plants in different regions of the Republic of Korea and their effects on antiobesity, to explore compounds that play an important role in two major obesity-related pathways. Here, we present an in-depth study on DM samples collected from three regions of the Republic of Korea [Jeju Island (DMJ), Bogildo (DMB), and Jangheung (DMJG)]. We used high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and multivariate component analyses to analyze polyphenol contents (neochlorogenic acid, chlorogenic acid, cryptochlorogenic acid, and rutin), followed by discrimination of the samples in DMJG using single nucleotide polymorphism and chemometric analysis. In silico and in vitro evaluation of major compounds found in the plant extract on two major anti-obesity pathways (adipogenesis and thermogenesis) was carried out. Furthermore, two extraction methods (Soxhlet and ultrasound-assisted extraction) were used to understand which method is better and why. Upon quantifying plant samples in three regions with the polyphenols, DMJG had the highest content of polyphenols. The internal transcribed region (ITS) revealed a specific gel-based band for the authentication of DMJG. PCA and PLS-DA revealed the polyphenol’s discriminative power of the region DMJG. The anti-obesity effects of plant extracts from the three regions were related to their polyphenol contents, with DMJG showing the highest effect followed by DMJ and DMB. Ultrasound-assisted extraction yielded a high number of polyphenols compared to that of the Soxhlet method, which was supported by scanning electron microscopy. The present work encourages studies on plants rich in secondary metabolites to efficiently use them for dietary and therapeutic purposes.

Postmenopausal osteoporosis, characterized by an imbalance between osteoclast-mediated bone resorption and osteoblast-driven bone formation, presents substantial health implications. In this study, we investigated the role of black goat extract (BGE), derived from a domesticated native Korean goat, estrogen-like activity, and osteoprotective effects in vitro. BGE’s mineral and fatty acid compositions were analyzed via the ICP-AES method and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, respectively. In vitro experiments were conducted using MCF-7 breast cancer cells, MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts, and RAW264.7 osteoclasts. BGE exhibits a favorable amount of mineral and fatty acid content. It displayed antimenopausal activity by stimulating MCF-7 cell proliferation and augmenting estrogen-related gene expression (ERα, ERβ, and pS2). Moreover, BGE positively impacted osteogenesis and mineralization in MC3T3-E1 cells through Wnt/β-catenin pathway modulation, leading to heightened expression of Runt-related transcription factor 2, osteoprotegerin, and collagen type 1. Significantly, BGE effectively suppressed osteoclastogenesis by curtailing osteoclast formation and activity in RAW264.7 cells, concurrently downregulating pivotal signaling molecules, including receptor activator of nuclear factor κ B and tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 6. This study offers a shred of preliminary evidence for the prospective use of BGE as an effective postmenopausal osteoporosis treatment.