Abstract
The kinetics of Ti-transformed Salvia miltiorrhiza cell cultures was studied in 250-$m\ell$ shake flasks by using B5 medium with addition of 30 gfL of sucrose. In the cell cultures, the maximum cell mass obtained was 11.5 g DW/L on day 15. The highest amount of phenolic compounds - rosmarinic acid (RA) and lithospermic acid B (LAB) reached 871.3 mg/L (day 15) and 121.3 mg/L (day 13), respectively. The total tanshinone production, i.e., intracellular plus extracellular cryptotanshinone, tanshinone 1, and tanshinone IIA, was 5.3 mg/L on day 13. For the cultivations in 2.4-L stirred bioreactors, the residual sugar level and medium conductivity were a little higher in a small turbine impeller reactor ($T_s$) than those in a large turbine impeller reactor ($T_L$), while a higher cell density was obtained in the $T_L$. For the production of tanshinones and phenolics, better results were obtained in the $T_L$ than in the $T_s$. In the $T_L$, similar or even a little higher production titers of tanshinones and phenolic compounds were achieved compared to those in the flasks. The results suggest that the shake flask results could be successfully scaled up to the $T_L$ reactor. Such a large impeller reactor like $T_L$ may be better than a small impeller one for the large-scale production of the valuable metabolites by the suspension cultures of Ti transformed S.miltiorrhiza cells. This is considered due to the beneficial culture environment in the $T_L$, such as low shear rates as estimated theoretically.