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Balloon Type Bubble Bioreactors (BTBB) as technology
to produce bioactive compounds from plant biomass Mariateresa Cardarelli*, Elvira Rea
Consiglio per la Ricerca e la sperimentazione in Agricoltura – Centro di ricerca per lo studio
delle relazioni tra pianta e suolo
Via della Navicella 2-4, 00184 Roma [email protected]
In recent years, bioreactor systems
in liquid media have been
successfully introduced as plant cell
culture technology to produce many
useful and valuable secondary
metabolites, including
pharmaceuticals,
pigments, and other fine chemicals.
This technology is a good model to
produce plant biomass
overcoming many problems linked
to the variations of crop yield and
quality due to environmental factors;
moreover the production can be
planned according to demand of
biopharmaceutical and nutraceutical industry and the
costs are lower for the possibility to integrate with
automated facilities.
In large-scale application of bioreactor technology, it is
important to define inoculum density, medium
components, oxygen transfer and mixing, and other
physico-chemical parameters. All these factors must be
optimized according to plant species and explant types.
Bioreactors are actually used to produce ginsenosides
from Panax ginseng (http://www.cbnbiotech.com) and
interesting results have been obtained with other
medicinal and aromatic plant cultures. Finally, bioreactor
technology may be applied in space farming for
producing nutraceutic compounds.
Aloe barbadensis and A. arborescens are important medicinal plants
(Asphodelaceae family) used for centuries in traditional and folk
medicine to treat several health disorders. Nowadays theirs leaves are
processed by industry as source of pharmaceutical, cosmetics and
Aloe barbadensis
Aloe arborescens
R1 R2
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CH3
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OH
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H
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OH
OH
H
O
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OH
O
H
H
O OH
O
H
OH
O
O
H
O
H
O
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H
OH
O OH
H O
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healthy food products.
Aloe gel contains minerals,
amino acids, polyphenols
and polysaccharides.
Numerous studies have
reported the therapeutic
potential of these active
components as anticancer,
hepatoprotective,
immunomodulatory,
antimicrobial,
anti-inflammatory
and antioxidant.
Aloe barbadensis shoots
micropropagated in agarized substrate
Aloe arborescens multiplication in
agarized substrate:
shoot cluster and single shoots
In vivo multiplication of Aloe adventitious shoots is limited and with a seasonal
frequency; whereby this technique is very slowly and expensive. In vitro culture is an
alternative propagation method which facilitates its large scale production in limited
time and space.
We developed a feasible methodology for commercial production
of Aloe barbadensis and A. arborescens shoots in a balloon type
bubble bioreactor (BTBB) with continuous immersion in liquid
medium. Bioreactor improved the multiplication rate and shoot
quality of both aloe species in comparison with shoot grown in
agarized substrate. Moreover, liquid culture in BTBB system
affects metabolites accumulation in shoots of A. arborescens.
This technology could be applied in controlled environment to
produce high amount of biomass for extraction of medicinal
metabolites.
