Metabolite Profiling of In Vitro Cultured and Field Grown Rhizomes of Acorus calamus from Mongolia Using GC-MS

Acorus calamus (sweet flag) is used in the traditional Chinese and Indian medicines for various ailments. Due to its extensive use in herbal medicine, natural resources from the world's forests are being depleted at an alarming rate. In the present study, an in vitro cell culture technique is being explored as an alternative to field grown A. calamus with respect to the metabolite profile, antioxidant properties, total phenol, and total flavonoid content. Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was utilized to compare the metabolite profiling between methanolic extracts of in vitro and field grown rhizome tissues of A. calamus. A statistical analysis indicated an upregulation of a-selinene, which is representative of sesquiterpene ketones, and a cyclic polyol, D-pinitol, which has an insulin mimicking effect in the in vitro cultivated rhizome tissue when compared to field grown rhizomes. Significantly higher free-radical scavenging activity (IC50 69.32 mu g mL(-1)), total phenolic content (71.60 mg GAE g(-1)), and total flavonoid content (42.34 mg CE g(-1)) were observed in in vitro rhizome tissues compared with those from field grown rhizomes. These observations suggest that the in vitro cultivation of Acorus rhizomes could be exploited as an alternative to field grown A. calamus, as it is an endangered medicinal plant. The production of useful metabolites by the in vitro cultured rhizomes can be explored successfully for utilization by various food and drug industries