Abstract Petiole explants of centella plants (Centella
asiatica L. Urban) were cultured on Murashige and Skoog
(MS) solid medium containing 20 g/L sucrose, supplemented
with 1.0 mg/L benzylaminopurine and 1.0 mg/
L naphthaleneacetic acid for callus production. To establish
a cell suspension culture, 2 g of fresh callus was cultured
in 50 mL of the same medium but without solid agent at a
100 rpm agitation speed. Every 2 g of culture was subcultured
in fresh MS liquid medium for maintenance. After
24 days of culture at a 120 rpm agitation speed, the centella
cell biomass reached a maximum of 9.03 g/50 mL on the
same MS medium with 30 g/L sucrose and a 3 g inoculum
size. A high performance liquid chromatography analysis
showed that asiaticoside content in 24-day old suspension
cultured cells (45.35 mg/g dry weight) was significantly
higher (4.5 fold) than that of in planta leaves (10.55 mg/g