Korean ginseng was fermented using Aspergillus niger (A. niger) FMB S494 and mycotoxins such as ochratoxin and fumonisin were not detected in the fermented ginseng. Protopanaxadiol-type ginsenosides such as glycosylated forms of Rb1, Rb2, Rc, and Rd decreased to 0 while compound K (cK) increased from 0 to 9 × 104 ppm in the extract of fermented ginseng. Protopanaxtriol-type ginsenosides such as Re and Rg1 decreased from 7.1 × 104 to 3.0 × 104 ppm and 6.8 × 104 to 4.6 × 104 ppm, respectively. Rg2 and Rh1 increased from 0 to 1.9 × 104 ppm and 0 to 2.7 × 104 ppm, respectively. We can demonstrate that A. niger was more inclined to transform protopanaxadiol-type ginsenosides. Moreover, fermented ginseng extract showed a dramatically enhanced anti-proliferative effect on human HT-29 cell line with a minimum effective concentration of about 1 µg/mL, which might be attributed to the high degree of biotransformation of ginsenosides, especially the high output of ginsenoside cK.
Keywords: Anti-proliferation; Aspergillus niger; Biotransformation; Ginsenoside; Mycotoxin.