Production of lignans in calluses of Schisandra chinensis

Potential toxicity of Schisandra chinensis to water environment: acute toxicity tests with water crustaceans

Fruits of Schisandra chinensis, an East Asian liana plant, are currently more and more used to produce nutrient supplements that positively affect human health due to the content of various secondary metabolites. On the other hand, these substances because of their bioactivity can cause possible allelopathic or toxic effects concerning other organisms (algae, plants, animals). But the ecotoxicological properties of S. chinensis outside its area of origin have yet to be sufficiently verified. Two crustaceans, Daphnia magna and Thamnocephalus platyurus, were selected as model aquatic organisms to test the potential impact of S. chinensis active compounds on the aquatic environment. Crude water extract from S. chinensis fruits, simulating the natural leakage of active substances in water, was tested in treatments from 0.0045 to 45 mg/L (according to the content of schisandrin as the dominating lignan). Effective concentration (EC50) causing 50% lethal effect for D. magna was established to 0.0448 mg/L after 24 h and 0.0152 mg/L after 48 h. EC50 for T. platyurus reached 0.4572 mg/L after 24 h, i.e. more than ten times higher than for D. magna. This study showed that the potential environmentally relevant concentrations of S. chinensis bioactive compounds could represent a severe risk to aquatic ecosystems.

Bioactive compounds from Schisandra chinensis - Risk for aquatic plants?

Schisandra chinensis is a potential plant for production of nutrient supplements due to adaptogens content. The dominant bioactive substance, lignan schisandrin, has positive effects on human health, but it can cause possible allelopathic effects in relation to other plants. S. chinensis is not native to European ecosystems, and its ecotoxicological properties have not been verified yet. Lemna minor was selected as a model aquatic plant to test its potential impact on the aquatic environment. Crude water extract from S. chinensis fruits, simulating the natural soaking of active substances in a surface water body, was used in treatments from 0.045 to 45 mg/L (according to the content of schisandrin as the dominating lignan). During seven days of cultivation, the growth (number of plants, leaf area, fresh weight) and photosynthetic activity of L. minor fronds were assessed. In low treatments (0.045 and 0.09 mg/L), the extract of S. chinensis did not cause any changes in duckweed growth parameters or photosynthetic performance. Higher treatments (0.45 and 0.9 mg/L) caused significant limitations in plants' number, total leaf area, and fresh weight. The photosynthetic parameters (basal chlorophyll fluorescence, quantum yields) were affected only by 0.9 mg/L. The highest treatment, 45 mg/L, exhibited extreme toxicity to duckweed plants causing their death during the first five days of cultivation. Schisandrin and other bioactive substances extractable from S. chinensis fruits can negatively impact water biota in the case of massive contamination of surface water.

Phytochemical and biotechnological studies on Schisandra chinensis cultivar Sadova No. 1-a high utility medicinal plant

In the presented work, raw materials (fruits and leaves) and in vitro biomass of a highly productive Schisandra chinensis Sadova No. 1 cultivar (SchS) were evaluated for the production of therapeutically useful schisandra lignans (SL). In vitro cultures of SchS were initiated, followed by extensive optimization studies focused on maximizing secondary metabolite production, with the aim of establishing a sustainable source of SL. Different cultivation systems (agar, agitated, bioreactor), experiment times (10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 days) and plant growth regulators (6-benzyladenine—BA and 1-naphthaleneacetic acid—NAA, from 0 to 3 mg/l) in Murashige-Skoog (MS) medium were tested. Moreover, an elicitation procedure was applied to bioreactor-grown microshoots in order to increase SL production. Validated HPLC-DAD protocol enabled to detect fourteen SL in the extracts from in vitro and in vivo materials. The main compounds in the in vitro cultures were as follows: schisandrin (max. 176.3 mg/100 g DW), angeloylgomisin Q (max. 85.1 mg/100 g DW), gomisin A (max. 71.4 mg/100 g DW) and angeloylgomisin H (max. 67.0 mg/100 g DW). The highest total SL content (490.3 mg/100 g DW) was obtained in extracts from the biomass of agar cultures cultivated for 30 days on the MS medium variant containing 3 mg/l BA and 1 mg/l NAA. This amount was 1.32 times lower than in fruit extracts (646.0 mg/100 g DW) and 2.04 times higher than in leaf extracts (240.7 mg/100 g DW). The study demonstrated that SchS is a rich source of SL, thus proving its value for medical, cosmetic and food industry.

Current knowledge of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. (Chinese magnolia vine) as a medicinal plant species: a review on the bioactive components, pharmacological properties, analytical and biotechnological studies

Schisandra chinensis Turcz. (Baill.) is a plant species whose fruits have been well known in Far Eastern medicine for a long time. However, schisandra seems to be a plant still underestimated in contemporary therapy still in the countries of East Asia. The article presents latest available information on the chemical composition of this plant species. Special attention is given to dibenzo cyclooctadiene lignans. In addition, recent studies of the biological activity of dibenzocyclooctadiene lignans and schisandra fruit extracts are recapitulated. The paper gives a short resume of their beneficial effects in biological systems in vitro, in animals, and in humans, thus underlining their medicinal potential. The cosmetic properties are depicted, too. The analytical methods used for assaying schisandra lignans in the scientific studies and also in industry are also presented. Moreover, special attention is given to the information on the latest biotechnological studies of this plant species. The intention of this review is to contribute to a better understanding of the huge potential of the pharmacological relevance of S. chinensis.

Accumulation of dibenzocyclooctadiene lignans in agar cultures and in stationary and agitated liquid cultures of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill

Schisandra chinensis plant in vitro cultures were maintained on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 3 mg/l 6-benzyladenine (BA) and 1 mg/l 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) in an agar system and also in two different liquid systems: stationary and agitated. Liquid cultures were grown in batch (30 and 60 days) and fed-batch modes. In the methanolic extracts from lyophilized biomasses and in the media, quantification of fourteen dibenzocyclooctadiene lignans identified based on co-chromatography with authentic standards using high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) and/or liquid chromatography with diode array detection and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC-DAD-ESI-MS) methods. For comparison purposes, phytochemical analyses were performed of lignans in the leaves and fruits of the parent plant. The main lignans detected in the biomass extracts from all the tested systems were schisandrin (max. 65.62 mg/100 g dry weight (DW)), angeloyl-/tigloylgomisin Q (max. 49.73 mg/100 g DW), deoxyschisandrin (max. 43.65 mg/100 g DW), and gomisin A (max. 34.36 mg/100 g DW). The highest total amounts of lignans in the two tested stationary systems were found in extracts from the biomass harvested after 30 days of batch cultivation: 237.86 mg/100 g DW and 274.65 mg/100 g DW, respectively. In the agitated culture, the total content reached a maximum value of 244.80 mg/100 g DW after 60 days of the fed-batch mode of cultivation. The lignans were not detected in the media. This is the first report which documents the potential usefulness of S. chinensis shoot cultures cultivated in liquid systems for practical purposes.

Production of deoxyschizandrin and γ-schizandrin in shoot-differentiating and undifferentiating callus cultures of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. (Chinese magnolia vine)

Shoot-differentiating and undifferentiating callus cultures of Schisandra chinensis were cultured, respectively, on six and two variants of the Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium, differing in the concentration of cytokinin, 6-benzyladenine (BA) and auxin, α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA). In methanolic extracts from the biomass of both types of culture the amounts of two lignans: deoxyschizandrin and γ-schizandrin were estimated using the HPLC method. The levels of both compounds in the shoot-differentiating callus extracts were dependent on the concentration of BA and NAA in the MS medium variants. The amounts of deoxyschizandrin were high and varied over a wide range from 34.23 to 308.51 mg 100 g(-1) dry weight (DW); the amounts of γ-schizandrin were of a different order and ranged from 1.07 to 22.09 mg 100 g(-1) DW. In the extracts from undifferentiating callus the amounts of both compounds were lower and almost identical on the tested variants of the MS medium, equal, respectively, to about 18.5 mg 100 g(-1) DW deoxyschizandrin, and about 1.0 mg 100 g(-1) DW γ-schizandrin. The maximum amounts of deoxyschizandrin were obtained on the MS medium variant containing 3 mg l(-1) BA and 1 mg l(-1) NAA. These amounts were 7.5 and 5.1 times higher, respectively, than in the extracts from the leaves (41.01 mg 100 g(-1) DW) and fruits (60.72 mg 100 g(-1) DW) of native plant, analyzed for comparison. The maximum amount of γ-schizandrin in shoot-differentiating callus (22.09 mg 100 g(-1) DW) was comparable with its amount in the leaves (22.27 mg 100 g(-1) DW), but 3 times lower than in the fruits (66.50 mg 100 g(-1) DW). The obtained high amounts of deoxyschizandrin in the extracts of shoot-differentiating callus are of interest from the practical perspective.