Abstract:

To study the content variation of ginsenosides after the combination of ginseng with Zingiber officinale Rosc or Radix Paeoniae Rubra, a high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization spectrometric(HPLC-ESI-MS) method was used to analyze and compare the ginsenosides in the decoction. The experimental results show that the contents of ginsenosides decreased along with the increased amount of Zingiber officinale Rosc, while the stripping of ginsenosides was promoted by a small amount of Radix Paeoniae Rubra. In addition, the total antioxidant activity of n-butanol and water extracts from the single and compatible decoctions of ginseng was also determined by ferric reducing antioxidant power(FRAP) method. With ascorbic acid(500 μmol/L) as control, the anti-oxidation of compatible decoction of ginseng with Zingiber officinale Rosc/Radix Paeoniae Rubra was higher than that of the single decoction of ginseng; and the FRAP values of n-butanol extracts from the compatible decoction of ginseng with Zingiber officinale Rosc or Radix Paeoniae Rubra were 1562.29 and 2969.78 μmol/L, respectively, greater than the sum of single decoction of ginseng with Zingiber officinale Rosc(1260.27 μmol/L)/Radix Paeoniae Rubra(2502.07 μmol/L), indicating that the antioxidant activity of n-butanol extract from compatible decoction was better.

Key words: ginseng, Zingiber officinale Rosc, Radix Paeoniae Rubra, combination, antioxidant activity