Effects of culture medium and auxins on growth of adventitious root cultures of Cuphea aequipetala Cav. and their ability to produce antioxidant compounds

Cuphea aequipetala Cav. (Lythraceae), a species highly valued for its medicinal properties, is threatened in the wild. To provide an alternative source of material for production of bioactive compounds, we established adventitious root cultures of C. aequipetala and determined their phenolic compounds contents and antioxidant activity. Cultures were initiated from root tips of in vitro C. aequipetala plantlets and were grown in B5 or SH culture medium containing either indole butyric acid (IBA) or α-naphthalene acetic acid at 0, 5 or 10 μM. The maximum root biomass (1.6 g/L dry mass (DM) per L medium) was recorded after 14 days of growth in B5 + 5 μM IBA. Roots in B5 medium remained green, whereas they tended to oxidize in SH medium. The highest contents of total phenolic compounds (9.1 ± 0.1 μg gallic acid equivalents/g DM) and flavonoids (37.5 ± 0.7 μg quercetin equivalents/g DM) were in roots grown in B5 + 5 μM IBA after 14 days of growth. Root cultures accumulated mainly flavan-3-ols, whereas roots or leaves from whole plants accumulated mainly flavonols. We analyzed the antioxidant properties of root extracts using in vitro assays. Roots grown in B5 medium showed stronger free-radical scavenging activity than that of roots grown in SH medium. Our results show that adventitious root cultures of C. aequipetala are a promising system for research on antioxidant compounds biosynthesis and for scaled-up production of useful biological materials.