Bioreactor-Based Suspension Cultures of <i>Cannabis sativa</i> for Enhanced Production of Anti-Inflammatory Cannabinoid Derivatives

<i>Cannabis sativa</i> synthesizes diverse cannabinoids with significant pharmacological value, but existing suspension cultures show low metabolite yields and limited scalability. This study establishes bioreactor-based cell suspension system to enhance cannabinoid biosynthesis in <i>C. sativa</i>. Petiole explants cultured on MS medium with 4 mg/L BAP and 0.01 mg/L NAA produced 95.83 ± 0.74% friable callus. Suspension cultures accumulated 352.29 ± 3.90 g/L fresh biomass in 28 days, showing 22.4-fold increase upon scale-up in stirred-tank bioreactor. Methanolic extracts (60 °C) showed strong anti-inflammatory activity, reducing TNF-α and IL-6 by 88.40 ± 0.87 and 92.03 ± 1.55% at 30 μg mL<sup>-1</sup> without cytotoxicity. Metabolomic profiling identified putative cannabinoid derivatives, with THCA-C1 (0.05%) exhibiting highest binding affinity (-8.4 kcal/mol) to inflammatory targets based on docking and dynamics analyses. Overall, these results provide the first evidence for scalable cannabinoid biosynthesis in bioreactor-grown <i>C. sativa</i> cell suspensions, underscoring their potential for sustainable production of anti-inflammatory therapeutics.

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Journal
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Published
2025-12-08
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.5c10683
Primary Topic
Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research
Type
article
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article

Bioreactor-Based Suspension Cultures of Cannabis sativa for Enhanced Production of Anti-Inflammatory Cannabinoid Derivatives

Feroz Khan, Dnyaneshwar Umrao Bawankule, Zafar Iqbal Warsi, Laiq ur Rahman et al.
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research
article

Bioreactor-Based Suspension Cultures of Cannabis sativa for Enhanced Production of Anti-Inflammatory Cannabinoid Derivatives

Feroz Khan, Dnyaneshwar Umrao Bawankule, Zafar Iqbal Warsi, Laiq ur Rahman, Kahkashan Khatoon, Tanya Singh, Gazala Parween, Aqib Sarfraz, M.A. Beg, Monazza Israr
article en

Abstract

<i>Cannabis sativa</i> synthesizes diverse cannabinoids with significant pharmacological value, but existing suspension cultures show low metabolite yields and limited scalability. This study establishes bioreactor-based cell suspension system to enhance cannabinoid biosynthesis in <i>C. sativa</i>. Petiole explants cultured on MS medium with 4 mg/L BAP and 0.01 mg/L NAA produced 95.83 ± 0.74% friable callus. Suspension cultures accumulated 352.29 ± 3.90 g/L fresh biomass in 28 days, showing 22.4-fold increase upon scale-up in stirred-tank bioreactor. Methanolic extracts (60 °C) showed strong anti-inflammatory activity, reducing TNF-α and IL-6 by 88.40 ± 0.87 and 92.03 ± 1.55% at 30 μg mL<sup>-1</sup> without cytotoxicity. Metabolomic profiling identified putative cannabinoid derivatives, with THCA-C1 (0.05%) exhibiting highest binding affinity (-8.4 kcal/mol) to inflammatory targets based on docking and dynamics analyses. Overall, these results provide the first evidence for scalable cannabinoid biosynthesis in bioreactor-grown <i>C. sativa</i> cell suspensions, underscoring their potential for sustainable production of anti-inflammatory therapeutics.

Journal of Agricultural and Food ChemistryVol. 73(50)
Plant Biotechnology Institute (CA), Computational Physics (United States) (US), Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics (RU), Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (IN), Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (IN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 58%
Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research
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