<p>Plant suspension cultures are described as a source for the acquisition of medicinal secondary metabolites which in the future may become an alternative to traditional raw materials. This study demonstrates that the cell cultures of one of the ginseng species – Panax quinquefolium L. synthesize ginsenosides, which are triterpene saponins having a multidirectional pharmacological effects. Tested suspension cultures were run on a small scale in the shake flasksand in scale up of the process in a 10-liter stirred tank. In the shake flasks,the highest biomass yield (2.28 gl-1 for dry and 33.99 gl-1 for fresh weight) was reached on day 30 of culture, and the highest content of saponins (2.66 mg g -1 dw) was determined on day 28 of culture. In the bioreactor, nearly 2.67 and 3-fold increase of respectively dry and fresh biomass was recorded in relation to the inoculum. Large-scale cultures synthesized protopanaxatriol derivatives such as Rg1 and Re ginsenosides, however, no saponins belonging to the protopanaxadiol derivatives were reported.</p>

<p>Panax quinquefolium L., belonging to the Araliaceae family, along with P. ginseng is one of the well-known species of ginseng. Multidirectional pharmacological action of this plant is attributed to triterpene saponins called ginsenosides. Pharmacopoeial raw material are roots obtained from the field crops which are time-consuming and require expensive agrotechnical procedures. Therefore, the new sources of ginseng biomass are sought such as in vitro suspension cultures. P. quinquefolium L. cell cultures, treated with the elicitation of methyl jasmonate (MJ) in concentration 50 and 250 μmol L-1, synthesize more ginsenosides than control cultures. The highest increase (2.2-fold) of all examined compounds was noted using 250 μmol L-1 MJ. In this condition, the predominantly quantitative metabolite was Rb1 ginsenoside belonging to protopanaxadiol derivatives.</p>