Increased Production of Digitoxin from Digitoxin by Biotransformation Using Plant Cell Culture

Production of a cardiac glycoside, digoxin, by 12$\beta$-hydroxylation from digitoxin was studied in plant cell suspension cultures of Digitalis lanata. In order to increase the conversion yield, various culture conditions including immobilization were investigated and optimized. Since digoxin was released in the medium temporarily and converted further into a glucosylated product, deacetyllanatoside C, in situ adsorption of digoxin was employed to recover the product continuously. Amberlite resin XAD-8 showed the best adsorption characteristics for digoxin among the examined resins, and an integrated process was developed to increase the productivity. In addition, it was found that the utilization of $\beta$-cyclodextrin to entrap digoxin during the culture enhanced the biotransformation yield significantly.