Necessity of medium nutrient modification for production of cell biomass yield and rosmarinic acid in the cell suspension cultures of Orthosiphon stamineus Benth.

Orthosiphon stamineus Benth., an important aromatic medicinal herb of family Lamiaceae, is traditionally used for treatment of kidney problems, hypertension, diabetes and other minor ailments. In this study suspension cell cultures of three different cell lines of O. stamuneus were established. The effect of macro- and micro-nutrients of the MS medium was tested to obtain the best concentration of each nutrient for production of high cell biomass and rosmarinic acid (RA) content for the establishment and evaluation of necessity of medium modification. Each of the individual MS macro-nutrient and different MS strength of micro-nutrients gave different effects to the three different cell lines in terms of cell biomass yield and rosmarinic acid production. The effectiveness of the modified macro-nutrient salts for best cell biomass yield (Bio-mod medium) and best rosmarinic acid production (RA-mod medium) for each cell line were compared to the non-modified MS medium, the basic medium used for preparation of the cell proliferation medium. Results showed that both cell biomass and RA production for the three tested cell lines were better when cultured in MS medium without modification of the macro- and micro-nutrients compared to the two modified media. Both the modified and non-modified MS media were supplemented with 1.0 mg/L Dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) and 1.0 mg/L 1-Napthalene acetic acid (NAA). This study indicated that modification of the MS macro- and micro-nutrients was not necessary for good cell growth and high production of rosmarinic acid from cell cultures of O. stamineus disregard the type of cell lines.