Improvement of Hypericin and Hyperforin Production Using Zinc and Iron Nano-oxides as Elicitors in Cell‏ Suspension Culture of St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum L.)

Abstract

Zinc and iron nano-oxides (100 ppb) were promoted the hypericin and hyperforin production in<em> Hypericum perforatum</em> cell suspension culture. High performance liquid chromatography method was used for detectection and identification of hypericin and hyperforin in <em>H. perfuratum</em> cell suspension cultures elicited with different concentrations of zinc and iron nano-oxide (0, 50, 100 and 150 ppb) after 72 h. In the cultures stimulated by zinc nano-oxide, the hypericin and hyperforin production reached to the maximum (7.87 and 217.45 µg/g DW, respectively), which were 3 and 13-fold higher than the control. The amount of hypericin and hyperforin was increased from 2.07 and 16.27 µg/g DW to 11.18 and 195.62 µg/g DW in iron nano-oxide treated cultures. The cell cultures treated with zinc and iron nano-oxides showed increased hyperforin production as compared to the hypericin production. These observations suggested that nano-particles can be appropriate candidates for elicitation studies of <em>in vitro</em> secondary metabolites production.