Establishment of Shoot Cultures of Nepeta curviflora Boiss., Scale-Up in a Nutrient Sprinkle Bioreactor and Phytochemical Analysis

Shoot cultures of <i>Nepeta curviflora</i> were used to test the effect of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and riboside 6-benzylaminopurine (r-BAP) on the growth and production of phenolic compounds. The best multiplication was achieved on agar Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) with r-BAP (1.5 mg/L), where 74% of explants produced about eight axillary shoots. The fresh weight (FW) was about 0.6 g/tube (24 g/L) and the dry weight (DW) was about 0.04 g/tube (2 g/L). To scale up the culture, the shoot culture was grown for the first time in a nutrient sprinkle bioreactor. After 4 weeks of culture, the multiplication rate (8.13) was higher than that observed in glass tubes (8.03). The fresh biomass was 113.2 g/bioreactor (75.5 g/L) and the dry mass was 14 g/bioreactor (9.3 g/L). Extracts from obtained plant material were analyzed by the UPLC/DAD/qTOF-MS technique. A total of 32 phenolic compounds were identified and quantified. The total content of compounds ranged from 600 to 1400 mg/100 g of dry weight (DW), depending on the culture conditions. In the profile of shoot cultures, rosmarinic acid was dominant, whereas prolithospermic acid was mostly noted in extract from aerial parts of the plant obtained from the field.