[Effects of ABA on tanshinones accumulation of Salvia miltiorrhiza hairy root].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of Abscisic Acid (ABA) on the accumulation of tanshinones in suspension cultures of Salvia miltiorrhiza hairy roots. METHODS: After suspension culture of Salvia miltiorrhiza hairy roots induced by agrobacterium rhizogenes ATCC15834 for 20 days, the ABA was added into suspension cultures, the contents of tanshinones (including tanshinone I , cryptotanshinone, dihydrotanshinon I and tanshinone II A) were detected by HPLC after 7 days. RESULTS: The growth of Salvia miltiorrhiza hairy roots was inhibited by ABA. 20 micromol/L ABA treatment had no significant effect. The dry weight of Salvia miltiorrhiza hairy roots of other ABA treatments reduced to 65.2% ,71% and 56.5% of the control, respectively. Different levels of ABA could significantly increased the yields of four tanshinones in Salvia miltiorrhiza hairy roots. The yields of tanshinone I , cryptotanshinone, dihydrotanshinon I and tanshinone II A were significantly increased to 5.4, 9. 5, 1.5 and 1.8 times that of the control group after dealing with 210 micromol/ L ABA. CONCLUSION: ABA can stimulate the accumulation of tanshinones in Salvia miltiorrhiza hairy roots.