Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don is an important herbal plant. There are two important alkaloids, vinblastine and vincristine, use in anti-cancer drugs. In this study production of the two alkaloids was enhanced in C. roseus cell cultures, in a Murashige and Skoog (MS) liquid medium supplemented with 1.5 mg/L 2,4-D, 0.5 mg/L kinetin and 30 g/L sucrose, by adding 0, 50, 100, 250 or 500 mg/L medium molecular weight chitosan or chitosan derived from shrimp shell. After 14 days of culture, the cell suspension at stationary phase in the 100 mg/L medium molecular weight chitosan could produce the highest amounts of vinblastine and vincristine at 4.15 and 5.48 µg/mg cell dry weight, respectively. At the same time, the controls (0 mg/L chitosan) produced the two alkaloids at only 2.43 and 2.49 µg/mg cell dry weight, respectively. For chitosan from shrimp shell, it was found that 100 mg/L chitosan could lead to the highest quantity of 4.09 µg vinblastine/mg cell dry weight. The highest amount of 5.47 µg vincristine/mg cell dry weight was obtained when 250 mg/L chitosan was added.

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