For the economical progressive of developing countries such as Thailand, drug is one of the essential basic factor that should be seriously considered and urged to manufacture locally. As a result it would reduce a commercial inbalance from importing drugs. This management would also prevent drug deficiency in critical periods. The berberine alkaloid is one of the potential drugs distributed in some genera of plants including Arcangelisia flava Merr., which is a Thai native medicinal plant found wildly grown in southeastern and southern parts of Thailand. It seems to contain a reliable high amount of berberine in its roots and stems. So A. flava may become an interesting source of berberine for modern drug production. However, the berberine mostly accumulates in A. flava roots and it takes approximately 5 years to produce a proper high alkaloid containing roots. Thus, the application of tissue culture techniques for culturing of A. flava in an artificial media was studied to shorten the period of growth and to increase the percentage of berberine by in vitro culture. In addion, this investigation would elucidate some basic knowledges of biosynthetic pathway of certain alkaloids in A. flava in culture condition.
