**1. Introduction**

The word "ginseng" refers to products that are derived from *Panax* species and relates to the "man-like" form of the root [1]. *Panax ginseng* C. A. Meyer (Araliaceae), sometimes known as Asian, Chinese, or Korean ginseng, and *Panax*

*quinquefolius* L., often known as American or North American ginseng, are the two most well-known ginseng species [2], but a total of 18 plant species, including infraspecific taxa, have been already identified as *Panax* members worldwide [3]. *Panax* is derived from the Greek word "*panakos*," which means "all-healing" or "cure-all," which was first coined by Russian botanist Carl A. Meyer [4]. Thus, the herb ginseng has been used in various traditional medicinal remedies for over 5000 years [4]. Although, different species and parts of ginseng plants have distinct uses in traditional medicine preparations, the root is the most widely used medicinal component of the plant, and saponins are the principal active elements in most of them [5]. Preparations of ginseng dried roots are used to treat hyperglycemia, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and insomnia due to its beneficial biological properties [6–8]. Ginseng is also used as a tonic or adaptogenic supplement that helps to restore biological functions, improve physical performance, and boost tolerance to several stresses [1, 4].

The main bioactive ingredients of *P. ginseng* are a series of tetracyclic triterpenoid saponins also called ginsenosides. In recent years, many excellent reviews on ginsenosides have been published, focusing on structures or bioactivities [1, 8, 9], isolation and analysis [10–13], and metabolic regulation [14–18], thus evidencing our ever-increasing understanding of all these aspects of this thousandyear-old medicinal plant family. However, it is important to keep in mind that the ginsenoside contents greatly vary depending on the species, organs, growing season, and producing location, which implies that their pharmacological properties widely differ as well. Therefore, some important considerations should not be overlooked to continue to improve our understanding:


Although, all of these differences in ginsenoside contents and compositions may appear to be disadvantageous or anecdotal, we have decided to highlight them in this chapter to emphasize that they may, on the contrary, be an asset to our understanding of ginsenoside biological activity and discovery of new bioactive ginsenosides.

*How Do Extraction Methods and Biotechnology Influence Our Understanding and Usages… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.103863*
