EVALUATION OF SECONDARY METABOLITES’ VARIATION IN MEDICINAL PLANTS AND OPTIMIZATION OF SAGE (SALVIA OFFICINALIS L.) GROWTH IN VITRO

Abstract

Plants produce a wide variety of secondary metabolites that have been selected during evolution as defense substances against herbivores, predators or infective microbes and viruses, or as signal compounds. These secondary compounds have attracted great interest for drug development as they may represent lead structures for new or already existing drug targets.

The goals of the research:

1) to explore metabolites (total phenolic compounds, flavonoids, vitamin C) and the antioxidant activity of medicinal plants in vivo;

2) to select medicinal plants which have accumulated the highest content of  secondary metabolites;

3) to prepare the culture media with different pH values for the sage in vitro;

4) to prepare the culture media with different KH₂PO₄ quantities for the sage (Salvia officinalis L.) in vitro;

5) to explore secondary metabolites (total phenolic compounds, vitamin C, tannins) of  the sage in vitro;

6) to compare the content of metabolites of sage plants in vivo and in vitro;

In conclusion, in order to grow sage (Salvia officinalis L.) which would give a large biomass and produce large quantities of metabolites, it is useful to increase the amount of KH₂PO₄ two times in the Murashige–Skoog (MS) nutrient medium and to maintain pH within 5.7–6.7. Sage (Salvia officinalis L.) was found to accumulate the larger amount of metabolites in vitro, i.e. 1.7 times of tannins, 3.8 times of the vitamin C, and 3 times of flavonoids in comparison with the sage in vivo. 

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ct.64.2.6021