ENHANCED SILYMARIN ACCUMULATION AS INFLUENCE OF MEDIUM COMPOSITION IN CELL SUSPENSION CULTURES OF Silybum marianum (L.) GAERTN.

Silymarin production was examined in cell suspension cultures derived from hypocotyl of Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn. MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of sucrose, glucose, KH2PO4, KH2PO4 + K2SO4, NH4NO3, CaCl2, L-Phenylalanine, L-Tyrosine and yeast extract was used. Tyrosine 10 mg/l,  0.5 KH2PO4 + K2SO4 con., 0.75 NH4NO3 con., 0.75 KH2PO4 + K2SO4 con., glucose 30 g/l, 0.5 CaCl2.2H2O, tyrosine 20 mg/l and yeast extract 40 mg/l (3 days incubation period) showed the highest production of silymarin in callus cells to reach 79%, 57.5%, 46%, 24.2%, 21.2%, 19.7%, 9.7% and 8.6% over the control respectively. The same trend was obtained by HPLC (qualitative assay).