Methods on improvements of the poor oral bioavailability of ginsenosides: Pre-processing, structural modifi cation, drug combination, and micro- or nano- delivery system

Panax ginseng Meyer is a traditional Chinese medicine that is widely used as tonic in Asia. The mainpharmacologically active components of ginseng are the dammarane-type ginsenosides, which havebeen shown to have anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, immunoregulatory, neuroprotective, and metabolicregulatory activities. Moreover, some of ginsenosides (eg, Rh2 and Rg3) have been developed intonutraceuticals. However, the utilization of ginsenosides in clinic is restrictive due to poor permeability incells and low bioavailability in human body. Obviously, the dammarane skeleton and glycosyls of ginsenosidesare responsible for these limitations. Therefore, improving the oral bioavailability of ginsenosideshas become a pressing issue. Here, based on the structures of ginsenosides, we summarized theunderstanding of the factors affecting the oral bioavailability of ginsenosides, introduced the methods toenhance the oral bioavailability and proposed the future perspectives on improving the oral bioavailabilityof ginsenosides. KCI Citation Count: 0