In Vitro Callus Induction and Antioxidant Potential of Decalepis Hamiltonii

Objective: To develop in vitro callus induction in nodal segments of Decalepis hamiltonii and investigate the antioxidant potential of the callus. Methods: In this study, nodal segments of Decalepis were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplimented with various concentration of 2,4-D for callus induction and later subcultured on various concentration of NAA and BAP. The antioxidant activity of tuberous root and callus were investigated along with the quantification of phenolics and flavonoid contents. The ability of scavenging activity of methanolic extract using DPPH, FRAP assays and total antioxidant activity using Phosphomolybdenum assay were carried out . Results: Callus was induced on MS medium supplemented with various concentration and combination of auxins and cytokinins. Callus formation was best on media suplemented with 2mg / L 2,4-D . However the callus formation was slow on different combinations of NAA and BAP. The total phenolic content in tuberous root and callus was 100.7 ± 13.24 μg (GAE) / mg and 18.86 ± 0.1485 μg (GAE) / mg respectively. The total flavonoids were 180.5±63.36 μg (QE) / mg and 130.6 ± 3.571 μg (QE) / mg of extract respectively. The experiments further revealed that Decalepis callus had FRAP values of 17.25 ± 0.04738 μmol of AAEs/mg extract and for root 110.4±7.397 μmol of AAEs / mg. The total antioxidant capacity of root extracts showed higher degree (194.6+41.74 μg AAE /mg extract) of antioxidant capacity than the callus extract (119.3+10.55 μg AAE / mg extract). The IC 50 Conclusion: This work has shown that D.hamiltoni callus extracts contained substantial amount of phenolic compounds including flavonoids exhibiting potent antioxidant activity by effectively scavenging free radicals. If appropirate stratagies are developed for enhancing the antioxidant molecules, possibilites of making plant cell factories using callus or suspension cultures can be established, which could preserve the endangered population of Decalepis hamiltonii from extinction. values of the DPPH radical scavenging property of callus and root extract were in the range of 148±4.39 μg/ml and 20±1.54 μg/ml respectively.