Metabolomic Approach for Discrimination of Four- and Six-Year-Old Red Ginseng (Panax ginseng) Using UPLC-QToF-MS

Panax ginseng C.A. MEYER is one of the most popular medicinal herbs in Asia and the chemical constituents are changed by processing methods such as steaming or sun drying. Metabolomic analysis was performed to distinguish age discrimination of four- and six-year-old red ginseng using ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadruple time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QToF-MS) with multivariate statistical analysis. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed clear discrimination between extracts of red ginseng of different ages and suggest totally six discrimination markers (two for four-year-old and four for six-year-old red ginseng). Among these, one marker was isolated and the structure determined by NMR spectroscopic analysis was 13-cis-docosenamide (marker 6-1) from six-year-old red ginseng. This is the first report of a metabolomic study regarding the age differentiation of red ginseng using UPLC-QToF-MS and determination of the structure of the marker. These results will contribute to the quality control and standardization as well as provide a scientific basis for pharmacological research on red ginseng.