COMPARISON OF GROWTH AND SECONDARY METABOLITE ACCUMULATION IN CULTURES OF COMPACT CALLUS AGGREGATES AND SHOOTS OF HYPERICUM PERFORATUM L. IN SHAKE FLASKS AND IN A BUBBLE COLUMN BIOREACTOR

Hypericum perforatum L. is a traditional medicinal plant that has been used for the treatment of depression. Cultures of compact callus aggregates (CCA) and shoots were established to investigate production of hypericin, pseudohypericin and hyperforin in highly and partly differentiated tissues of H. perforatum L., as well as accumulation of biomass during cultivation in shake flasks and in a bubble column bioreactor. Shoots were cultivated in MS liquid medium supplemented with 0.1 mg L^-1 benzyladenine (BA) and CCA cultures in MS medium containing 0.5 mg L^-1 BA and 1.0 mg L^-1 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). The shoot cultures showed faster accumulation of biomass compared to cultures of CCA in shake flasks and also in a bubble column bioreactor. The growth of both cultures was faster in bioreactor compared to that in shake flasks. A linear correlation between the biomass accumulation and the medium osmolarity obtained for both cultures in shake flasks was successfully used for indirect monitoring of biomass accumulation in a bubble column bioreactor. The HPLC-analyses showed shoot cultures to be superior as extraction material for hypericin, pseudohypericin and hyperforin compared to CCA and the concentrations of these metabolites in shoot cultures were higher in bubble column bioreactor than in shake flasks.