Potential of tissue cultured medicinal plants in Malaysia

Abstract

Medicinal plants possess many secondary products that exhibit biological activities such as antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and anti microbial. Scientific findings have demonstrated that tissue culture techniques could be an alternative tool to propagate plant in vitro and manipulate secondary metabolites in medicinal plants. This review aims to give an update on the various plant regeneration of some locally used medicinal plants in Malaysia such as Eurycome longifolia Jack, Zingiber officinale Roscoe, Centella asiatica L., Justicia gendarussa Burm. f, Kaempferia galanga L. and Orthosiphon stamineus Benth. Different type of cultures including organ, callus and cell cultures is also discussed.