www.IndianJournals.com Members Copy, Not for Commercial Sale Downloaded From IP - 180.149.50.66 on dated 8-Oct-2013 Journal of Hill Agriculture 1(2): 102-106, July-December 2010 Micropropagation of Stephania japonica, a rare medicinal plant of north-east India PJ HANDIQUE  DEBOJA SHARMA Received: Aug 4, 2010; Revised: Nov 11, 2010; Accepted: Nov 16, 2010 Sharing Knowledge for Prosperity RESEARCH PAPER ABSTRACT Stephania japonica (Thunb). (Syn S. harnendifolia) is a species under the genus of climbers belonging to family Menispermeceae. It is used in traditional medicinal practices and is locally known as Tubuki lota or Goldua. Having high medicinal value, roots of Stephania japonica are used for treatment of fever, diarrhea, dyspepsia and urinary diseases. The alkaloid akanidine shows significant anti-spasmodic activity on uterine spasms. As this highly valued medicinal plant is facing rarity, its micropropagation and conservation was felt necessary. Stephania japonica explants collected during dry spells (January) in dormant stage showed higher rate of regeneration. Murashige and Skoog medium showed good response compared to others. Among the various hormones used singly or in combinations, best results were obtained in BAP (4.0 mg/l) + Kn (0.1 mg/l) after 15 days of inoculation. Among the various combinations, BAP+Kn showed best results in BAP (4.0 mg/l) + Kn (0.1 mg/l). Best rooting i.e longest roots of 14 mm and maximum regeneration of 17.1 roots were observed in IBA (1.0 mg/l) in 14 days. For hardening, shoots with profused rooting were transferred to ½ strength MS liquid medium with filter paper raft support for two weeks. KEYWORDS Stephania japonica, tissue culture, media selection, BAP + Kn, IBA, hardening Handique PJ  Sharma Deboja Department of Biotechnology, Gauhati University, Guwahati, Assam -781 014, India PJ Handique () E mail: pjhandique@sify.com, debu1000@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Medicinal plants have been used for the treatment of human ailments from time immemorial. In India, the knowledge of herbal medicine is widespread ranging from tribal folklore use to age-old practices and closely guarded recipes handed down from generation to generation, to highly evolved systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Siddha and Unan-tibb (Sharma 1996). Demand for medicinal plants is increasing in both developing and developed countries due to growing recognition of natural products being non-toxic, having no side effects and easily available at affordable prices. Medicinal plants sector has traditionally occupied an important position in the socio- cultural, spiritual and medicinal area of rural and tribal lives of India as a whole and north- eastern India in particular. Under this context the present programme of study was designed to standardize micropropagation methods in Stephania japonica. Stephania is a genus of climbers /twiners belonging to family Menispermaceae. Stephania japonica Thunb (Syn S. harnendifolia), is used in traditional medicinal practices. Stephania japonica is locally known as ‘Tubuki lota’ (Assamese) and ‘Goldua’ (Hindi). It is distributed in tropics and confined to north- east India. Roots of this plant are used for treatment of fever, diarrhoea, dyspepsia and urinary diseases. The alkaloid akanidine shows significant anti-spasmodic activity on uterine spasms brought by the posterior pituitary lobe extract and it may be useful in obstetrical practice. D-and dl-tetrandine, fangchinoline and d- iso chondrodendrine exhibit significant cytotoxity against human carcinoma of naso- pharynx and also against intra muscular carcinosarcoma in rats (Anon 2010). Tuber is bitter and their astringent property is used in fever, diarrhoea, stomach-ache and urinary diseases. When