A preliminary investigation of ursolic acid in cell suspension culture of Salvia officinalis

Callus and suspension cultures of two genotypes and two morphological forms (friable and compact) were established on MS medium supplemented with 10.4 7 muM NAA and 4.5 muM BA. Biomass increase in 14-day-culture was calculated and ursolic acid (UA) content was determined by HPLC and MS. The growth ra te and UA accumulation was found to be significant in the two genotypes. Th e compact biomass of both genotypes demonstrated a much slower growth rate and a lower UA accumulation than the friable biomasses. The accumulation of UA in suspension culture was constant in time when derived from the friabl e callus but it declined, when derived from the compact callus.