Rui Jin1†, Chang An2†, Bingrui Wang3†, Changbin Liu1, Xiaopeng Fan4, Zongshen Zhang1*
1 Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Plant Cell Culture Research, School of Biological Engineering, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China
2 Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Haixia Applied Plant Systems Biology, Center for Genomics, College of Life Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
3 College of Plant Science & Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China
4 Hangzhou Institute of Advanced Technology, Hangzhou 310018, China
† These authors contributed equally to this work
*Corresponding author’s email: zhangzs@dlpu.edu.cn
Received: 14 May 2025 / Accepted: 11 September 2025 / Published Online: 29 September 2025
Abstract
Psammosilene tunicoides is a well-known representative of “Miao medicine” in China, has high market demand and application potential. However, wild resources are scarce and increasingly endangered due to overharvesting. To address this issue, this study investigates the potential of bioreactor-cultivated hairy roots (HRs) of P. tunicoides as a sustainable alternative to wild medicinal resources. We first examined the bioreactor cultivation of P. tunicoides HRs, with emphasis on their growth, bioactive compound accumulation, and biological activities. HRs were cultured in 10 L bioreactors for up to 45 days. At 30 days of culture, the results showed that the biomass and growth rate of HRs reached 138.19±2.77 g and 0.233±0.06 g/d, respectively, with a saponin content of 11.41±0.02 %, which exceeded the levels observed in five-year-old wild. P. tunicoides. In addition, the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the HRs were evaluated. Before deglycosylation, the DPPH radical scavenging rate was 65%, increasing to 83% after deglycosylation. Similarly, hydroxyl radical scavenging rates were 65% and 80%, and superoxide anion scavenging rates were 48.2% and 81.6% before and after deglycosylation, respectively. The deglycosylated saponins exhibited scavenging effects comparable to vitamin C, likely due to the removal of impurities by AB-8 macroporous adsorption resin. Antibacterial tests showed that deglycosylated saponins had a higher inhibitory effect on gram-positive bacteria (S. aureus > M. luteus > E. coli > P. aeruginosa) than on gram-negative bacteria. Taken together, the consistent enhancement in saponin levels, antioxidant capacity, and antibacterial performance underscores the pharmacological robustness of bioreactor-cultivated HRs. These findings indicate that bioreactor-cultivated P. tunicoides HRs possess similar biological activities to wild P. tunicoides, supporting the feasibility of using cell engineering methods to sustainably replace rare and endangered wild medicinal resources.
Keywords: Psammosilene tunicoides, Hairy roots, Bioreactor cultivation, Antioxidant activity, Antibacterial activity
