Improvement of Hypericin and Hyperforin Production Using Zinc and Iron Nano-oxides as Elicitors in Cell Suspension Culture of St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum L.)

Zinc and iron nano-oxides (100 ppb) were promoted the hypericin and hyperforin production in Hypericum perforatum cell suspension culture. High performance liquid chromatography method was used for detectection and identification of hypericin and hyperforin in H. perfuratum cell suspension cultures elicited with different concentrations of zinc and iron nano-oxide (0, 50, 100 and 150 ppb) after 72 h. In the cultures stimulated by zinc nano-oxide, the hypericin and hyperforin production reached to the maximum (7.87 and 217.45 μg/g DW, respectively), which were 3 and 13-fold higher than the control. The amount of hypericin and hyperforin was increased from 2.07 and 16.27 μg/g DW to 11.18 and 195.62 μg/g DW in iron nano-oxide treated cultures. The cell cultures treated with zinc and iron nano-oxides showed increased hyperforin production as compared to the hypericin production. These observations suggested that nano-particles can be appropriate candidates for elicitation studies of in vitro secondary metabolites production.