In vitro production of adventitious roots containing asiaticoside from leaf tissues of Centella asiatica L.

Centella asiatica (Apiaceae) is an important medicinal herb used in a variety of herbal medicines worldwide. Although the whole plant contains important triterpenoids, a significant quantity of pharmacologically important phytochemicals collectively known as centellosides can be extracted from leaf tissues and not from other parts of this plant. Asiaticoside is one of the major centellosides and is used in holistic medicine for treating a variety of human ailments. Genotypes of C. asiatica of Indian origin accumulate significant quantities of asiaticoside in their roots, while genotypes from other continents contain insignificant quantities of this chemical. The main purpose of this study was to manipulate the leaf-derived callus of C. asiatica using a combination of plant growth regulators to generate a large quantity of adventitious roots. The presence of asiaticoside in callus and regenerated roots of C. asiatica was detected by thin layer chromatography as well as by high-performance liquid chromatography, and the accumulation of a significant quantity of asiaticoside was demonstrated by spectrophotometric analysis. The protocol developed for the regeneration of roots was simple, reproducible, and reliable for the possible commercial production of root biomass enriched for asiaticoside.