Abstract
Rhododendron tomentosum Harmaja (Ledum palustre), a peat bog plant from Ericaceae family, has been used in traditional medicine as the anti-arthritis agent. Although modern researches confirm its anti-inflammatory properties, it remains threatened by habitat degradation and possibilities to collect this endangered species from its natural environment for further biological activity studies are limited. Therefore, R. tomentosum liquid in vitro cultures were established as the alternative source of that valuable plant material. Schenk–Hildebrandt medium with 24.60 μM 2-isopentenyladenine and 592.02 μM adenine provides intensive growth and proper morphology of the obtained microshoots. The R. tomentosum biomass was scaled up using the various bioreactors (immersion, temporary immersion and spraying systems) for better growth and improved volatile oil production. The largest biomass accumulation (fresh weight = 250 g l−1, growth index = 280, dry weight = 20 g l−1) and essential oil content (0.5% v/m) were achieved with application of commercially available RITA® bioreactor. GC/MS analysis revealed the high content of p-cymene (6.9%), alloaromadendrene (5.5%), shyobunone (8.2%) and ledene oxide (II) (13.0%) in the volatile fraction obtained from RITA® system. The biomass growth parameters and production profile in terms of essential oil and selected terpenoid compounds were determined during the 2 month period. The influence of culture conditions and bioreactor construction on the growth and volatile oil production in R. tomentosum biomasses was discussed.
Highlights
Rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic joint disease, affects about 1% of the world population (Kumar et al 2016)
The growth parameters obtained in the initial agitated liquid culture were too low to receive sufficiently high amount of plant material for essential oil
Liquid shoot cultures of R. tomentosum were established for the first time, providing the alternative, renewable and continuous source of in vitro plant material for essential oil isolation
Summary
Rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic joint disease, affects about 1% of the world population (Kumar et al 2016). One of the groups of phytocompounds modulating the pro-inflammatory signaling pathways are terpenes, the components of essential oils. Their effects on the arachidonic metabolism, cytokines production and pro-inflammatory gene expression were reported (Laev and Salakhutdinov 2015; Miguel 2010). Rhododendron tomentosum Harmaja (formerly known as Ledum palustre L.), an aromatic swamp plant from the family Ericaceae, has been used for ages in folk medicine to treat joint disorders (Dampc and Luczkiewicz 2013). A large intraspecific variety of the specimens is an additional problem due to the fact that chemical composition of the essential oil is considerably related to the natural habitat, the phase of the vegetation period and the age of the discussed plant (Dampc and Luczkiewicz 2013). Taking into account the mentioned factors, providing the alternative, constant source of this valuable plant material which produces stable amounts of terpenoids seems to be indispensable to conduct further studies on its medicinal properties
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