Berberine: Production Through Plant (Thalictrum spp.) Cell Cultures

Abstract

Berberine-containing plants have been used for more than 2000 years in traditional folk medicine for therapeutic treatment. Berberine alkaloids are widely distributed in plants of the families Berberidaceae, Ranunclaceae, Menispermaceae and Rutaceae. Coptis species (Ranunclaceae) and Phellodendron amurense (Rutaceae), typical berberine-containing plants, have been frequently used as a folk antidysenteric in Japan and East Asia, effective by its berberine alkaloids. Another berberine-containing plant, Berberis aristata (Berberidaceae) was used for cholera and other bacterial diarrhoea. The protoberberine alkaloids and their derivatives show at least four types of biological activity: antimicrobial, uterine, anti-inflammatory, and antileukemic and antineoplastic. (Kondo 1976; Otsuka et al. 1981). Protoberberines and their derivatives as potential anticancer agents have been reviewed (Suffness and Coroell 1985) and their chemistry has also been reviewed (Kondo 1976). The cultivation of the rhizome of Coptis species is very slow, and takes 5–6 years to use as the raw material and as a source of berberine. The price of Coptis rhizome is at present very high (20 000 yen/kg, 1983 in Japan), almost the same as that of Panax ginseng.