Validated quantification for selective cellular uptake of ginsenosides on MCF-7 human breast cancer cells by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

The cellular behavior of ginsenosides on cancer cells has not been measured directly despite their potent anticancer activities and biological actions. A liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) method was developed to measure the selective cellular uptake of ginsenosides in both cell lysates and culture media. Fifteen ginsenosides were separated within 17 min with good peak shapes using a 2-μm sub-particle size C18 column. Quantification was performed by triple-quadrupole MS with electrospray ionization in negative ion mode. The sample preparation containing the solid-phase extraction was linear (correlation coefficient, r2 > 0.992) for all analytes, while the limit of quantification ranged from 0.5 to 2.0 ng/mL in both matrices. The assay precision (%CV) and accuracy (%bias) at three different concentrations (5, 20, and 100 ng/mL) were 1.4% to 11.6% and 94.9% to 106.4%, respectively. When this method was used to examine the selective cellular uptake of ginsenosides, the relative non-polar and protopanaxadiol class ginsenosides, such as Rg3, Rk1, Rg5, Rh2, compound-K, and protopanaxadiol (PPD), showed cellular uptake in the MCF-7 cells, but the relative polar and protopanaxatriol class of ginsenosides did not accumulate in the cells. The most non-polar ginsenoside PPD, which is an aglycone of the protopanaxadiol type, resulted in the highest uptake rate. These results show that the different anticancer activities are due to the selective uptake of ginsenosides based on their chemical structures. This LC-MS-based method can be used to estimate the biological activity of ginsenosides on cells from their structural diversity.