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Gut Microbiome for Ginseng Medicine

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The Ginseng Genome

Part of the book series: Compendium of Plant Genomes ((CPG))

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Abstract

In the past few decades, using traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), including Panax ginseng as pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and healthcare products has expanded globally. TCMs can exert its pharmacological effects as a single herb, as well as in a variety of herbal compatibility forms. And in general, ginseng is orally administered, which make their constituents inevitably brought into contact with gastrointestinal microbiota in the intestine. The gut microbiota possesses the corresponding enzyme system that can metabolize some of the ginsenoside prototypes, which found almost exclusively in ginseng and regarding as the major pharmacological ingredients with therapeutic activities, into metabolites with higher bioavailability and efficacy. Therefore, understanding the role of the gut microbiota in ginsenosides metabolism in vivo and therefore targeting the specific bacterial strains/metabolic function by probiotics, prebiotics, or other micro-ecological modulators potentially to become an attractive approach to enhance the ginseng efficiency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100700, China

    Xiao Shuiming & Zhang Xiaoyan

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  1. Xiao Shuiming
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  2. Zhang Xiaoyan
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Correspondence to Xiao Shuiming .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institution of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China

    Jiang Xu

  2. Department of Plant Science, CALS, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea (Republic of)

    Tae-Jin Yang

  3. Institution of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China

    Hao-yu Hu

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Shuiming, X., Xiaoyan, Z. (2021). Gut Microbiome for Ginseng Medicine. In: Xu, J., Yang, TJ., Hu, Hy. (eds) The Ginseng Genome. Compendium of Plant Genomes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30347-1_14

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