A GABA synthesizing enzyme, glutamate decarboxylase, has been purified from bovine brain by several chromatographic procedures. The preparation appeared homogeneous on SDS-PAGE. The enzyme is a homodimeric protein with a molecular mass of 120 kDa. The activation of glutamate decarboxylase by ginesenosides from Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer has been studied. Preincubation of the enzyme with total ginsenoside, Rb₂ and Rc ginsenosides, increased glutamate decarboxylase activities in a dose-dependent manner. There was a reproducible decrease in K_m, in addition to a increase in V_(max), in response to increasing concentrations of the Rc ginsenoside fraction. Upon addition of the ginsenoside to the enzyme, a decrease in flurorescence intensity was discernible, together with an increase in emission anisotropy. Judging from the anisotropy values, the ginsenoside is rapidly trapped by the protein matrix. Total ginsenoside was administered to rats and the rat brains were removed for the measurement of the changes of GABA shunt regulating enzyme activities. Among the GABA shunt regulating enzymes, only the glutamate decarboxylase activities were increased after ginsenoside treatment. Therefore, it is suggested that the ginsenosides may elevate the GABA level in brain by activation of glutamate decarboxylase and the enzymatic activation might be due to the conformational change induced by binding of ginsenoside to the enzyme.