Production of ginseng and its bioactive components in plant cell culture: current technological and applied aspects.

Ginseng (the root of Panax ginseng CA Mayer) is a valuable oriental herb, which has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years, both as a disease-healing drug and a general tonic. The medicinal value of ginseng is now also widely recognized in the west and the world ginseng market is expanding. The current supply of ginseng depends mainly on field cultivation, which is a slow and laborious process. Plant cell and tissue culture methods have been explored as potentially more efficient alternatives for the mass production of ginseng and its bioactive components. Research into ginseng cell and tissue cultures started in the early 1960s and commercial applications have been underway since the late 1980s. The ginseng cell culture has continued to attract considerable research and development effort in recent years as scientists seek to understand and optimize the culture conditions. In this paper, we review recent studies on ginseng cell culture processes, focusing on the physiological and bioengineering factors affecting the productivity of ginseng biomass and useful metabolites (e.g. ginseng saponin and polysaccharide) and the progress and concerns in large-scale applications.

[1]  O. Sticher.  Getting to the Root of Ginseng , 1998 .

[2]  Y. Yun,et al.  Activation of multiple effector pathways of immune system by the antineoplastic immunostimulator acidic polysaccharide ginsan isolated from Panax ginseng. , 1997, Anticancer research.

[3]  Feng Chen,et al.  High cell density mixotrophic culture of Spirulina platensis on glucose for phycocyanin production using a fed-batch system , 1997 .

[4]  J. Zhong,et al.  A quantitative analysis of shear effects on cell suspension and cell culture of perilla frutescens in bioreactors. , 1994, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[5]  E. J. Staba,et al.  Plant tissue culture as a source of biochemicals , 1980 .

[6]  Yutaka Orihara,et al.  Studies of the Culture Conditions for Panax ginseng Cells in Jar Fermentors , 1984 .

[7]  J. Zhong,et al.  Effects of plant growth regulators on cell growth and ginsenoside saponin production by suspension cultures of Panax quinquefolium , 1996 .

[8]  Eunah Chung,et al.  Ginsenoside-Rg1, one of the major active molecules from Panax ginseng, is a functional ligand of glucocorticoid receptor , 1997, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology.

[9]  Kee Chang Huang,et al.  The Pharmacology of Chinese Herbs , 1998 .

[10]  T. Furuya.  Saponins (Ginseng Saponins) , 1988 .

[11]  R. Dixon,et al.  Plant cell culture : a practical approach , 1985 .

[12]  Toshiomi Yoshida,et al.  High-density cultivation of Perilla frutescens cell suspensions for anthocyanin production: Effects of sucrose concentration and inoculum size☆ , 1995 .

[13]  J. Zhong,et al.  Effect of Nitrogen Source on Cell Growth and Production of Ginseng Saponin and Polysaccharide in Suspension Cultures of Panax notoginseng , 1996 .

[14]  R. Dixon,et al.  Initiation and maintenance of callus and cell suspension cultures , 1995 .

[15]  T. Ishii,et al.  Regulation of saponin production in callus cultures of Panax ginseng [1]. , 1983, Planta medica.

[16]  L. Bogorad,et al.  Cell culture and somatic cell genetics of plants , 1984 .

[17]  A. Lipsky,et al.  Problems of optimisation of plant cell culture processes. , 1992, Journal of biotechnology.

[18]  F. Skoog,et al.  A revised medium for rapid growth and bio assays with tobacco tissue cultures , 1962 .

[19]  J. Tilles,et al.  In vitro effects of echinacea and ginseng on natural killer and antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity in healthy subjects and chronic fatigue syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome patients. , 1997, Immunopharmacology.

[20]  Professor Dr. Weici Tang,et al.  Chinese Drugs of Plant Origin , 1992, Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

[21]  T. T. Ngo,et al.  Biotechnological Applications of Plant Cultures , 1994 .

[22]  J. Zhong,et al.  Improvement of cell growth and production of ginseng saponin and polysaccharide in suspension cultures of Panax notoginseng : Cu2+ effect , 1996 .

[23]  Jian-Jiang Zhong,et al.  Effects of potassium ion on cell growth and production of ginseng saponin and polysaccharide in suspension cultures of Panax ginseng , 1996 .

[24]  E. J. Staba,et al.  The ginsenosides of various ginseng plants and selected products. , 1980 .