IN VITRO FLOWERING FOR THE PRODUCTION OF BIOACTIVE ALKAMIDES IN ACMELLA CILIATA (KUNTH) CASS.: A PROMISING HERB IN PHARMACEUTICALS

Abstract

Acmella ciliata (Kunth) Cass. (Synonym: Spilanthes ciliata Kunth), a herbaceous medicinal plant of Family Asteraceae commonly known by the name ‘Toothache plant’ is used as a spice and as a traditional medicine for the treatment of toothaches. The plant has got various pharmacological properties due to the presence of phytochemicals like flavanoids, alkaloids, coumarins, tannins, etc. and the most important among them is an isobutylamide ‘spilanthol’ that has got anaesthetic and various other properties. As per earlier reports, highest spilanthol content was present in flower heads of this plant genus. We in this study, focus on the induction of in vitro flowers so as to formulate a system for spilanthol production which have a high demand in pharmaceutical industries. The in vitro plants raised in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing appropriate phytohormones were subcultured to MS medium containing 6-Benzyl adenine (BA) (1.0, 2.0, 3.0 mgl-1), Kinetin (1.0, 2.0, 3.0 mgl-1) in combination with Silver nitrate (AgNO3 ) (5.0, 6.0, 7.0 mgl-1) and with 0.5 mgl-1 Indole 3-acetic acid (IBA). Other treatments like coconut water and Giberellic acid (GA3 ) at different concentrations were also tested. Among the various treatments, in vitro flowers were formed in MS medium containing 1.0 mgl-1 Kinetin, 5.0 mgl-1 AgNO3 in combination with 0.5 mgl-1 IBA with 65.21 response percentage with 8/16 light to dark hours period. This is a stepping stone for the bioproduction of spilanthol that would get accomplished with the ongoing research for elucidation of the compound which may become useful in phytopharma industry.