Fingerprint Analysis of Saponins Contents of Ginseng Powder in Different Sterilization Methods and Evaluation of Sterilization Effect

Objective: To investigate and evaluate the sterilization methods on the sterilization effect of Ginseng powder. Methods: HPLC fingerprint was established to determine the contents of saponins. The samples were evaluated by PLS-DA analysis, cluster analysis, similarity evaluation, combined with HPLC method, and the number of microorganisms in the samples, the stability for 6 months were analyzed. Rresults: The fingerprint identified 10 common peaks, the similarity of unsterilized and humid heart sterilized samples was 0.981~0.995. The similarity of irradiation sterilization and ultraviolet sterilization samples were 0.971~0.977. The similarity of ozone sterilized samples was 0.784~0.863. Three chromatographic peaks were identified by PLS-DA analysis to distinguish the samples with different sterilization methods. With the increasing of irradiation sterilization dose, the contents of ginsenoside Rg1, Re, Rb1, Rf and Ro significantly increased. There was no significant difference in the contents of ginsenoside between different sterilization methods after 6 months and 0 months. Conclusion: The quality of ginseng powder could be better evaluated by fingerprint analysis combined with index composition analysis, which would provide the basis for determining the sterilization process of ginseng powder.