Identification and quantitative determination of pinoresinol in Taxus ×media Rehder needles, cell suspension and shoot cultures

The aim of our study was to investigate the presence and quantitative contents of lignans in the tissues of Taxus × media . The presence of the lignans: pinoresinol, matairesinol and secoisolariciresinol was assessed in needles, shoots cultures and suspension culture. Pinoresinol was the only lignan found in the tissue of T. × media . The total pinoresinol content in the needles and in the shoots was 1.24 mg/g dry weight (dw) and 0.69 mg/g dw, respectively. Most of the pinoresinol identified was appeared glycosidically bound. In needles, the amount of glycosidically bound pinoresinol (0.81 mg/g dw) was about twice as high as that of free pinoresinol (0.43 mg/g dw). The content of free and glycosidically bound pinoresinol showed the level of 0.18 mg/g dw and 0.51 mg/g dw, respectively in the in vitro shoot cultures. In the cell culture, no pinoresinol was found.