Production of Glycyrrhizin in Cell Suspension of<i>Glycyrrhiza Inflata</i>Batalin Cultured in Bioreactor

Abstract

Glycyrrhizin is the major constituent responsible for the quality of licorice, which is one of the most widely used chinese herbal medicines. Most previous studies of using cell cultures of licorice to produce pharmaceutical compounds are limited because these cultures have been optimized only on a small scale. In this study, cell suspension culture of Glycyrrhiza inflata Batalin was established successfully in a 7.5 L bioreactor with a low-shear impeller. The maximum cell biomass of 194.4 g/L fresh weight was obtained after 18 days of culture in the bioreactor maintained at an initial inoculum density of 50 g/L fresh weight (FW) and aeration rate of 0.1 vvm. Analysis via liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) revealed the presence of glycyrrhizin in the cell extract by comparison with the standards, and the glycyrrhizin content was found to be 1.14 ± 0.23 mg/g dry weight after 3 weeks of cultivation.