Influence of Selected Heavy Metals on Cell Growth and Camphor Secretion in Achillea gypsicola Hub. Mor. In Vitro Cell Cultures

The use of abiotic and biotic elicitors for increasing the accumulation of pharmaceutical active ingredients in plant tissues has gained an increasing interest worldwide. This study was intented to provide promoting accumulation of camphor and phenolic compound using cadmium chloride (CdCl2) and silver nitrate (AgNO3) in cell culture of Achillea gypsicola. Growing cells from 8-day-old cultures were treated with three concentrations (5, 25 and 50 µM) of CdCl2 and AgNO3, along with the control. The quantification of camphor and phenolic compound were performed using Headspace-GC-MS and spectrophotometer, respectively. The content of camphor and phenolic compound, cell number and cell dry weight were significantly affected by increasing doses of AgNO3 and CdCl2. The highest significant change in camphor content was observed in cell treated with 25 µM CdCl2 and AgNO3 with a 6.88 and 6.32 fold increase, respectively. The application of 50 µM AgNO3 and CdCl2, however, resulted in a rapid decine in all attributes studied, implying that culture of A. gypsicola is susceptible to elicitation by high concentrations of these elicitors. In conclusion, using AgNO3 and CdCl2 elicitors in cultured tissues of A. gypsicola would be of great importance to enhanced production of desired bioactive compounds of medicinal importance.