Submerged cultivation of Stephania glabra (Roxb.) Miers cells in different systems: Specific features of growth and accumulation of alkaloid stepharine

Strains of a Stephania glabra suspension culture grown in flasks and two types of bioreactors (laboratory-scale bubble and pilot-scale stirred reactors) have been compared according to their growth characteristics and accumulation of the alkaloid stepharine. The best characteristics have been recorded for strains 113 and 261. In the case of batch cultivation in flasks, the maximal accumulation of dry biomass by these strains reaches 19–21 g/l; that of the alkaloid stepharine, 0.30–0.35% of dry biomass. The used strains differ in their response to cultivation scale-up from flasks to bioreactors, strain 254 displaying the lowest adaptation to such changes. A bubble reactor is the most beneficial system for submerged cultivation of S. glabra. The absence of detectable stepharine synthesis on the background of a considerable decrease in all growth characteristics of the cultures has been observed when using a pilot stirred bioreactor. The batch cultures of strains 113 and 261 in a bubble bioreactor accumulate 11–16 g/l of dry biomass containing 0.05–0.16% of the alkaloid. It has been shown that strains 113 and 261 retain satisfactory physiological characteristics in a semi-flow regime of a bubble bioreactor. This scale-up scheme can be used for further industrial cultivation.