以常溫大氣電漿前處理輔助人參萃取之研究

Abstract

當人參(ginseng, Panax ginseng)開始被發現具有醫學療效及健康保護的作用以後，除了在許多成果研究上的投入與驗證，也伴隨著其市場價值的提升，其中原因主要來自人參根部中的生物活性成分：人參皂苷、多醣體、胜肽類以及酚類化合物等。然而礙於人參細胞壁結構相對堅硬，在傳統萃取上影響溶劑滲透以致效果不彰且費時耗能，進而開始有許多研究致力於提升萃取效率，關於微波、超音波等技術已被使用於輔助人參活性成分的萃取，但此些過程亦有研究指出許多人參中天然化合物是熱不穩定的，在熱加工過程中可能裂解。故本研究著手於電漿輔助萃取技術並探討此一新興加工未來應用之可行性，其中電漿為物質的第四態，組成中涵蓋氣體原子、分子、陰陽離子、自由基等狀態，利用上述具強氧化性質之成分得以與標的物表面產生化學鍵結變化達成表面改質效果，期望常溫大氣電漿得以對人參造成相對應的細胞壁結構破壞以促進萃取溶劑滲透效果，藉此獲得更多生物活性成分。 綜上所述，本研究可分為三部分：第一部分是分別以有機溶劑及水相萃取方法所得之兩類粗萃液進行總醣、胜肽、總酚的定量分析，數據上顯示電漿處理確實有助提升醣類、胜肽及酚類化合物的萃取率，且每類中之電漿處理組別對比控制組都有著顯著差異。第二部分是對兩類粗萃液進行能力分析，當中電漿處理組在抗氧化能力及還原力方面有著顯著提升的效果，推論是由於生物活性成分含量上升所致，而在兩類萃取方法比較下，有機溶劑萃取的整體效果在酚類、抗氧化能力及還原力上都明顯高出水相萃取15 ~ 30%；而在細胞存活率測試上，有機及水相萃取液兩類之間所得結果截然不同，數據間表明有機粗萃液對於HepG2具有顯著抑制殺滅的功效，而水相萃取液則能有效促進HepG2的生長多達250%。 最後第三部分是透過研究成果進行總結，其實驗結果均如出一轍地表明常溫大氣電漿在未來萃取上的正面意義—具潛力發展為常溫大氣電漿輔助萃取法，有利萃取效率提升，對未來極有可能成為萃取上的新興輔助技術。

When Ginseng (Panax ginseng) was found to have medical efficacy and health protection, in addition to the investment and verification in many results research, it also accompanied its market value improvement. As result of its richness of ginsenosides, ginseng polysaccharides, ginseng peptides and phenolic compounds, ginseng have been reported to possess many biofunctionalities. Due to the relatively hard cell wall structure of ginseng, the influence of solvent penetration on traditional extraction is ineffective, time-consuming and energy-intensive. Thus, many researches had focuses on the application of novel technologies, such as microwave and ultrasonic, to enhance the extraction efficiency of bioactive component from ginseng. However, more studies has also indicated that many natural compounds in ginseng were readily degraded when there are heating involved in process. Therefore, this study will explore the feasibility to apply of the non-thermal plasma to assisted the extraction of ginseng bioactives. Plasma is the fourth state of matter, which covers several states such as gas atoms, molecules, anions, cations, and free radicals. Thereby, the above-mentioned composition having strong oxidizing properties is used to cause a chemical bond change with the surface of the target to achieve surface modification. We expect that cold atmospheric plasma could cause damage to the ginseng cell wall structure and, thus, to improve the penetration effect of the extracting solvent, thereby obtaining more of bioactive constituents. In summary, the study can be divided into three parts. The first part is the quantitative analysis of total sugar, peptide and total phenol by two kinds of crude extracts obtained by organic solvent and aqueous phase extraction methods. The data show that plasma treatment can improve the extraction efficiency of sugars, peptides and phenolic compounds. There are significant differences between the plasma treatment group and control group.The second part is the capacity analysis of the two types of crude extracts. Among them, the plasma treatment group has a significant improvement in antioxidant capacity and reducing power. The inference is due to the increase in the content of biological active ingredients. Compared with the two types of extraction methods, the extraction efficiency of organic solvents is significantly higher than that of aqueous phase extraction in phenols, antioxidant capacity and reducing power by 15 ~ 30%. In the cell viability test, the results obtained between the organic and aqueous extracts were completely different. The data showed that the organic crude extract had a significant killing effect on HepG2, while the aqueous extract could effectively promote the growth of HepG2. The last part is a summary of the research results. The experimental results show the potential of Atmospheric cold plasma in future extraction. It will develop into the Atmospheric cold plasma assisted extraction method, which will improve the extraction efficiency and will become an emerging assistive technology for extraction in the future.