Medicinal and Aromatic Plants I

Two aspects of the biotechnology of medicinal and aromatic plants are of immediate application. (1) Micropropagation under controlled germ- free conditions which enables their fast multiplication and availability throughout the year irrespective of external environment - this is specially useful for elite and rare plants. (2) A large-scale culture and low-temperature storage of cells enables retention of their biosynthetic potential for the production of important secondary metabolites, med- icines, flavours and other pharmaceutical products. This book has been compiled with a view to bringing together information and literature on the biotechnology and the present state of the art of plant cell cultures for their potential use in the pharmaceutical industry. This volume comprises 29 chapters on the biotechnology of med- icinal and aromatic plants grouped into three sections, (1) microprop- agation, immobilization, cryopreservation, bioreactors, production of secondary metabolites and their impact in pharmacy, (2) production through cell cultures of antitumour compounds, lrDopa, shikonin, an- thraquinone, morphinan alkaloids, caffeine, berberine, valeoptriates, rosmarinic acid, quinine, tropanes, hypoxoside, ellipticine, paeoniflorin, saponins, cardenolides etc, and (3) distribution, economic importance, conventional propagation, review of the tissue culture work on micropropagation and the in vitro production of compounds of medicinal and pharmaceutical interest in various species of Cannabis, Centaurium, Cinchona, Digitalis, Duboisia, Hypoxia, Lithospermum, Ochrosia, Paeonia, Panax, Papavar, Rehmannia, Rhamnus and Rhaza.