PRELIMINARY TISSUE CULTURE STUDY OF THE CALLUS PRODUCED FROM THE AERIAL PARTS OF ANTIGONON LEPTOPUS (HOOK & ARN)
AbstractAntigonon leptopus Hook & Arn (family Polygonaceae), also called: Chain of love, Queen’s Wreath and Mexican creeper is a fast-growing vine with stems reaching up to 20 feet long. It has heart-shaped, green leaves climbing by tendrils which wrap around many types of supports. It is native to Mexico and commonly found in tropical Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas. It possesses anticoagulant activity, analgesic, anti-thrombin, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, and anti-depressant activities. Aerial parts of the vine have been used as hepatoprotective and for spleen disorders. The vine was hardly growing and greatly affected by the relatively high temperature, as well as a shortage of water throughout the year in “El-Zohreya” Park, Cairo; thus to increase the plant propagation a tissue culture study was conducted. The formation of callus tissue from the leaf explants revealed promising results. Detection of the flavonoidal content by HPLC analysis was also performed on the different callus cultures, supplemented with different concentrations of the growth hormone regulator naphthalene acetic acid (NAA).