High density cultivation of Panax notoginseng cells in stirred bioreactors for the production of ginseng biomass and ginseng saponin

Abstract

A novel centrifugal impeller bioreactor (Wang SJ, Zhong JJ. A novel centrifugal impeller bioreactor. I. Fluid circulation, mixing and liquid velocity profiles, Biotechnol. Bioeng. 1996;51:511–519) was used for high-density suspension cultivation of Panax notoginseng cells and its performance was compared with a conventional turbine reactor and a shake flask. The maximum cell density reached 28.9, 26.0 and 22.7 g/l (by dry weight) in the shake flask (SF), centrifugal impeller bioreactor (CIB) and turbine reactor (TR), respectively; and their corresponding biomass productivity was 1103, 900 and 822 mg/(l·day). The total production of ginseng saponin reached about 0.92, 0.80, and 0.49 g/l in the SF, CIB and TR, respectively, and their corresponding saponin productivity was 34, 29 and 21 mg/(l·day). High cell densities (>20 g/l) of P. notoginseng cells were produced in the stirred reactors. It can be concluded that from the viewpoint of biomass production and saponin accumulation, the CIB was better than the TR, and the flask culture results can be well reproduced in the CIB.