Epilobium Sp. (Willow Herb): Micropropagation and Production of Secondary Metabolites

Abstract

Medicinal plants are the most important source for life-saving drugs development for the majority of the world’s population. The biotechnological tools are important to select, multiply, and conserve the critical genotypes of medicinal plants. Although used for centuries as remedies in folk medicine to treat a variety of diseases, Epilobium species have just recently been “rediscovered” as a potent treatment for a variety of male and female maladies. There are only few studies regarding the use of new technologies, such as in vitro tissue cultures, focused on increasing the amounts of the main constituents of Epilobium species. The focus of our research was to review Epilobium’s species pharmacological properties and to investigate in vitro growth and secondary metabolites production in some of these species (E. parviflorum and E. hirsutum). Micropropagation was achieved by standard in vitro culture techniques in agar-solidified or liquid medium. Plants cultured on different culture variants were compared with native plants for biomass production and accumulation of secondary metabolites. Secondary metabolites identification and determination was assessed by TLC and HPLC. Our results showed that the micropropagation of both Epilobium species, performed either on gelified culture medium or especially on liquid culture medium, can enhance biomass and secondary metabolite production, especially of tannins.