Lack of correlation between surface and interfacial activities of saponins and their hemolytic properties.

For a series of model compounds (digitonin, aescine, tomatine, stevioside and ginsenoside Rg1) it was demonstrated that neither the surface nor the interfacial tension (n-decane/water) lowering properties of saponins can be correlated with their ability to induce hemolysis. Furthermore, no correlation was observed between the surface and interfacial activities of saponins and their hemolytic properties.