Production of camptothecin in cultures of Chonemorpha grandiflora

BACKGROUND Chonemorpha grandiflora (Syn. Chonemorpha fragrans (Apocynaceae) is an endangered medicinal plant. It is used in different preparations, such as sudarsanasavam and kumaryasavam used in Kerala Ayurvedic system. C. grandiflora is used for the treatment of fever and stomach disorders. Phytochemical investigations have revealed the presence of steroidal alkaloids, such as chonemorphine and funtumafrine in C. grandiflora. Camptothecin, a well-known anticancer alkaloid has been detected in ethanolic extracts of stem with bark and callus cultures derived from C. grandiflora. METHODS Callus cultures of C. grandiflora were raised on Murashige and Skoog's medium supplemented with 2, 4-D. Stem with bark and callus were used for phytochemical analysis mainly the alkaloids. Detection and identification of camptothecin was carried out using thin-layer chromatography (TLC), high-performance thin-layer chromatography, (HPTLC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). RESULTS An important anticancer alkaloid, camptothecin was detected in ethanolic extracts of stem with bark and callus cultures of C. grandiflora. camptothecin content was 0.013 mg/g in stem with bark and 0.003 mg/g in callus. CONCLUSION This is the first report on in vivo and in vitro production of camptothecin in C. grandiflora. Camptothecin is known to occur only in six plant sources so, alternative sources for camptothecin are needed. Thus of C. grandiflora could be a new promising alternative source of camptothecin.