Abstract

CHITOSAN AND PENICILLIUM EXPANSUM MEDIATED ELICITATION OF CAMPESTEROL IN BLUMEA LACERA (BURM. F.) DC. CELL CULTURE.

Vijay D. Mendhulkar*, Priyanka Patade and Moinuddin Vakil

ABSTRACT

Blumea lacera (Asteraceae) is an important medicinal plant used in various ayurvedic preparations. Blumea lacera is used for pitta and kapha, abdominal disorders, bronchitis, intermittent fever and cholera. The active constituents of the plant include campestrol, triterpenoid, prenylated phenol glycosides and flavonoids. The present work was aimed to enhance the synthesis of campesterol in cell suspension culture of Blumea lacera using chitosan and Penicillium expansum as chemical and fungal elicitor respectively. The campesterol in treated samples was measured by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Chitosan (5 mg) revealed 10.4 fold enhancement of campesterol (0.943 mg/g) in Blumea lacera cell culture when exposed to 96 hr of treatment period. The variations in Campesterol content were evident in Penicillium expansum treatment but these variations were marginal and treatment duration dependent. The results show that chitosan is a potential elicitor for elicitation of campesterol in Blumea lacera cell culture.

Keywords: Blumea lacera, Campesterol, Chitosan, Elicitation, Penicillium expansum.