title: Ginseng in traditional herbal prescriptions.
abstract: Panax ginseng Meyer has been widely used as a tonic in traditional Korean, Chinese, and Japanese herbal medicines and in Western herbal preparations for thousands of years. In the past, ginseng was very rare and was considered to have mysterious powers. Today, the efficacy of drugs must be tested through well-designed clinical trials or meta-analyses, and ginseng is no exception. In the present review, we discuss the functions of ginseng described in historical documents and describe how these functions are taken into account in herbal prescriptions. We also discuss the findings of experimental pharmacological research on the functions of ginseng in ginseng-containing prescriptions and how these prescriptions have been applied in modern therapeutic interventions. The present review on the functions of ginseng in traditional prescriptions helps to demystify ginseng and, as a result, may contribute to expanding the use of ginseng or ginseng-containing prescriptions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oriental Pharmaceutical Science, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Ho Jae
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Dong Hyun
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Se Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Jong Min
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jong Hoon
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ryu
keywords: Herbal prescription; Historical documents; Modern pharmacological experiments; Panax ginseng; Translational approaches