Fermentation of Korean red ginseng by Lactobacillus plantarum M-2 and its immunological activities

We investigated ginsenoside transformation by fermentation of red ginseng with Lactobacillus plantarum M-2. We also examined the anti-metastasis and immune-stimulating activities of EtOH extracts of fermented red ginseng (FRG-E) in animal and human subjects. Total sugar decreased from 85.5 mg mL ^-1 to 44.1 mg mL ^-1 with increasing culture time during the fermentation with L. plantarum M-2. Uronic acid content reached a maximum level (534.3 μg mL ^-1) at 3 days of fermentation and decreased thereafter. Ginsenoside metabolites increased from 4,637.0 to 7,581.1 μg mL ^-1 after 4 days. The prophylactic intraperitoneal injection of FRG-E (500 μg mouse ^-1) inhibited lung metastasis about 81.1%, while the inhibitory effect against tumor metastasis by treatment of EtOH extract from non-fermented red ginseng (NFRG-E) was 66.9%. Immunoglobulin A (IgA) and G (IgG) levels in the serum of healthy subjects were higher after FRG-E administration than at baseline, whereas NFRG-E induced reductions of these variables related to immunity. At 1 week, the change in IgA level by FRG-E (5.14 mg mL ^-1) was significantly higher than that by NFRG-E (-14.50 mg mL ^-1; p<0.05). It was concluded that the immunological activities of FRG-E were higher than those of NFRG-E, indicating that fermentation helped enhance the immunological activities of red ginseng.