Micropropagation of the Medicinal Plant 'Sarpagandha' [Rauvolfia serpentina (L.) Benth. ex Kurz] and its Applications in Human Welfare

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Rauvolfia serpentina (L). Benth. ex Kurz., commonly known as Sarpagandha (Indian snakewood), of the family Apocynaceae, is a medicinally important woody shrub. Since ancient times, the root of this shrub has been used for treating numerous diseases, especially hypertension, mental agitation and cardiovascular diseases. In addition to eighty different alkaloids, all well-known for their pharmaceutical properties, the plant also contains reserpine, recognized as the world's first antihypertensive drug. Thus, the demand for this plant has only grown in the pharmaceutical industry. However, overexploitation and abysmal traditional propagation methods have endangered this valuable species' natural vegetation, creating an unpleasant gap between the demand and availability. In this scenario, the in vitro micropropagation technique comes as an alternative strategy to help replenish this threatened shrub's natural vegetation loss and commercial needs. Furthermore, the beneficial features of the plant tissue culture technique by providing genetically uniformed disease-free true-to-type plant propagation within a short time, and conserving elite variety plantlets makes this technique an inevitable tool for the rapid production of economically important plants in the 21st century. Therefore, this chapter focuses on the different in vitro plant tissue culture techniques applied to regenerate R. serpentina plants. In addition, the roles of various physical and chemical factors that could affect the regeneration rate, geographical distribution, bioactive compounds and their bioactivity have also been discussed. The comprehensive data could be helpful for further studies on this valuable plant.