Chemical characteristics combined with bioactivity for comprehensive evaluation of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer in different ages and seasons based on HPLC-DAD and chemometric methods

• A holistic approach based on chemical change and efficacy assessment was established.
• Chemometric methods were used for evaluating P. ginseng from different harvest times.
• The main contributive ginsenosides were first determined by fingerprint-efficacy relationships.
• P. ginseng from August of the fifth year exhibits superior quality based on established approach.

Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer has been known as a valuable traditional Chinese medicines for thousands years of history. Ginsenosides, the main active constituents, exhibit prominent immunoregulation effect. The present study first describes a holistic method based on chemical characteristic and lymphocyte proliferative capacity to evaluate systematically the quality of P. ginseng in thirty samples from different seasons during 2–6 years. The HPLC fingerprints were evaluated using principle component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA). The spectrum-efficacy model between HPLC fingerprints and T-lymphocyte proliferative activities was investigated by principal component regression (PCR) and partial least squares (PLS). The results indicated that the growth of the ginsenosides could be grouped into three periods and from August of the fifth year, P. ginseng appeared significant lymphocyte proliferative capacity. Close correlation existed between the spectrum-efficacy relationship and ginsenosides Rb1, Ro, Rc, Rb2 and Re were the main contributive components to the lymphocyte proliferative capacity. This comprehensive strategy, providing reliable and adequate scientific evidence, could be applied to other TCMs to ameliorate their quality control.

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