Phytochemistry, Metabolism, and Metabolomics of Ginseng

Ginseng, as a medicinal plant, has been used for thousands of years in China, Korea, and Japan, and the study on ginseng is a hotspot in the research field as evidenced by about 7000 scientific papers in PUBMED. In recent decades, many ginseng studies focused on the metabolism and metabolomics of ginseng or its active ingredients using modern bioanalytical technologies. To date, more than 200 ginsenosides and non-saponin constituents have been isolated and identified. In the past decades, rapid development of analytical technologies has facilitated the advancement of ginseng research in many ways. In this review, we focus on the advances of ginseng research in chemistry, pharmacology, and metabolomics. We also provide the comments on the significance as well as challenges of metabolomics-based ginseng studies.