Establishment of cell suspension cultures of Withania somnifera for the production of withanolide A.

Cell suspension cultures of Withania somnifera were established in shake flasks and the effect of different growth regulators (auxins, combination of auxin and cytokinin), inoculum density (2.5-20 g L(-1)), different media (MS, B5, NN and N6), the strength of the MS medium (0.25-2.0 x), carbon source (sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose), concentration of the sucrose (1-8% (w/v)) and the initial pH (4.0-6.5) of the medium were determined for the production of withanolide A. The optimized conditions for biomass accumulation and withanolide A production were found to be 10 g L(-1) of the inoculum on fresh weight basis, the full strength MS medium, 3% (w/v) sucrose, four weeks culture period and the initial medium pH of 5.8. The results of present study are useful for scale-up process. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.