Production of rosmarinic acid and salvianolic acid B from callus culture of Salvia miltiorrhiza with cytotoxicity towards acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells

Stem and leaf callus extracts exerted cytotoxic effects towards CCRF-CEM cells (stem: 13.1 ± 0.90 μg/ml; leaf: 18.1 ± 0.33 μg/ml). As expected, stem extract with higher amount of RA and Sal B showed lower IC50 value than leaf extract. These findings suggest the possibility to isolate bioactive constituents with anticancer properties from in vitro callus cultures of stems and leaves of SM.