Planta Med 2014; 80 - P2B25
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1394902

Schisandra chinensis in vitro cultures as a good potential source of therapeutically important lignans: Schizantherin A and gomisin G

A Szopa 1, H Ekiert 1
  • 1Chair and Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Jagiellonian University, Collegium Medicum, 9 Medyczna Street, 30 – 688 Kraków, Poland

Schisandrae chinensis fructus is a new plant raw material included in the Eur. Pharm. since 2008 [1]. It contains dibenzocyclooctadiene lignans possessing e.g. hepatoprotective, antioxidant and adaptogenic activities. S. chinensis fruits are mostly imported from China. Thus, alternative sources are searched for. Our earlier studies proved that in vitro cultures of S. chinensis could be a rich source of four lignans: schizandrol A and schizandrol B [2] as well as deoxyschizandrin and γ-schizandrin [3]. The aim of the present studies was to analyze the contents of two other lignans: schizantherin A (sch-A) and gomisin G (gom-G). Solid shoot-differentiating callus cultures were maintained on six Murashige and Skoog (MS) [4] medium variants differing in the contents (0.1 – 3.0 mg/l) of the plant growth regulators (PGRs) BAP (cytokinin) and NAA (auxin). Methanolic extracts of biomass from in vitro cultures, leaves and fruits of the parent plant were analyzed by an HPLC method for the contents of sch-A and gom-G. The contents of both lignans in the biomass extracts widely varied ranging from 0.41 to 33.45 mg% (sch-A), and from 0.18 to 21.89 mg% (gom-G), in dependence on the PGRs concentrations in the MS-medium. The maximum content of both compounds was obtained on the M-S medium variant containing 3 mg/l BAP and 1 mg/l NAA. The maximal amount of sch-A was about 1.3-fold higher than in the extracts of leaves (22.58 mg%) and fruits (25.48 mg%) of the parent plant but the maximum content of gom-G was about 2-fold lower than in the analyzed organs (leaves 49.10 mg% and fruits 46.06 mg%, respectively). The concentration of PGRs in the MS-medium significantly influenced the accumulation of the lignans under study. The investigated in vitro cultures of S. chinensis can be a potential good alternative source of sch-A, and also of gom-G.

References:

[1] European Pharmacopoeia 6.3 (2008), Monograph of Schisandrae chinensis fructus;

[2] Szopa A. Ekiert H. (2011) Pharmazie 66:633 – 634;

[3] Szopa A. Ekiert H. (2013)J. Biotechnol. 165:209 – 213;

[4] Murashige T. Skoog F. (1962) Physiol. Plant. 15:473 – 496