Lignan accumulation in cell cultures of Linum strictum ssp. strictum L.

Linum strictum ssp. strictum L. is an annual plant, widespread in Southern Europe (1). It has robust stems, 10–45 cm high, which are seldom branched. Its leaves are 1.5–5 mm wide, with margins that are minutely serrulate, very rough and often inrolled. The inflorescence is a dense, spike-like cyme or a corymb. The flowers are sessile or subsessile with thick pedicels, rarely longer than the calyx. The sepals are 4–6 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, long-acuminate, minutely serrulate and glandular-ciliate. The petals are 6–12 mm long and yellow. The fruit is a 2–2.5 mm long subglobose capsule.
Cell cultures of Linum species accumulate considerable amounts of aryltetralin lignans (2). Production of podophyllotoxin and its derivatives by means of cell cultures from Linum species might thus be an alternative to the supply from natural sources (3). Aryltetralin lignans are used after chemical derivatization in the treatment of malignancies such as Hodgkin’s disease and small cell anaplastic lung carcinoma (4). The pharmacological effects of lignans also include antiviral, antifungal, immunosuppressive, hypolipidemic, antiasthmatic and antiplatelet activities (5, 6).                                                                                                                                                                                                          The objective of this study was to quantify lignan accumulation in cell cultures of Linum strictum ssp. strictum L., which were initiated by us for the first time. To our knowledge this is the first phytochemical examination of podophyllotoxin-like compounds in cell cultures of Linum strictum ssp. strictum L. Author's Abstract.