African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (12), pp. 1215-1219, 16 June 2006   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2006 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

In vitro studies on effects of plant growth regulators on callus and suspension culture biomass yield from Gymnema sylvestre  R.Br

C. Gopi¹* and T.M. Vatsala

Shri AMM Murugappa Chettiar Research Centre, Tharamani, Chennai 600 113, Tamilnadu, INDIA. 

¹School of Biotechnology, K.S.Rangasamy College of Technology, Tiruchengode-637 209, Namakkal District. Tamilnadu, INDIA

*Corresponding authors E-mail: gopidurai@yahoo.Com.

Accepted 15 January, 2006

Callus cultures were initiated from nodal segments and leaf explants of Gymnema sylvestre on Murashige and Skoog (1962) medium containing basic salts and 30 g/l sucrose supplemented with different concentrations (0.10, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 5.0 mg/l) of 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D), α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), kinetin (KN) and 6-benzyladenine (BA). Callus induction was observed in 0.5 mg/l of 2, 4-D supplemented medium for both explants. At the initial stage, some parts of explants enlarged and gave raise to pale yellowish calli after 2-3 weeks of incubation. The harvested cell biomass was subjected to extraction of active principles. In this study, cell biomass extracts were compared with extracts from leaves of naturally growing gymnema plants. HPLC analysis of these extracts showed that the main components of the active principles namely gymnemic acids and gymnemagenin were present in sufficiently large amounts in the cultured undifferentiated cells.

Key words: Gymnema sylvestre, antidiabetic compounds, gymnemic acids, callus, cell culture.