EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSES ON CELASTROL CONTENTS IN TRIPTERYGIUM WILFORDII

Aims Tripterygium wilfordii is a highly valuable traditional Chinese medicinal plant. Celastrol, an active compound of T. wilfordii, has recently received attention from pharmaceutical researchers due to its medicinal value. Environmental stress may promote the formation and accumulation of secondary metabolites of medicinal plants. Our objective was to investigate whether mild environmental stress increased the content of Celastrol in T. wilfordii. Methods Orthogonal comparison of mild stress treatments of water, sunlight and N content were performed on the seedlings of T. wilfordii in the greenhouse. The content of Celastrol was determined by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Important findings Celastrol was mainly produced in the seedling root and was increased 10.8%, 14.4% and 13.0% under the three different stress treatments, respectively. Therefore, mild stress treatment improves the synthesis and accumulation of Celastrol.