Abstract
The suspension cultures of Mentha piperita produce menthol which has very low solubility in water due to its hydrophobicity. This can be considered as a factor for its low production in the suspension suspension cultures. Cyclodextrin has the hydrophobic cavity inside the molecule in which menthol can be captured and allow to form a stable complex. The suspension culture of Mentha piperita showed 70% higher production enhancement in the medium containing 1.5%(w/v) $\beta$-cyclodextrin than the control. $\beta$-cyclodextrin had no adverse effect on the cell growth and showed the best result among $\alpha$-, $\beta$- and $\gamma$-cyclodextrins tested in terms of menthol production. We demonstrated that $\beta$-cyclodextrin can be used to enhance the production of menthol in the suspension cultures by capturing hydrophobic menthol into the cavity of cyclodextrin molecules.