Coleus forskholii is a perennial plant with high medicinal value. It is made up of an active component called forskohlin extracted from roots which stimulates the catalytic subunit of adenylate cyclase and brings positive inotropic effect. It shows anticancer properties, promotes weight and fat loss, increases lean body mass, reduces allergies, asthma (antihistamine effect), lowers blood pressure, relaxes muscles of the stomach and menstrual cramps, lowers intraocular pressure. In vitro regeneration of Coleus forskholii has been achieved via direct organogenesis from young leaf cultures and calli buds through indirect method. Regeneration was obtained from varying concentrations of Benzyladenine (BA) and Kinetin (Kn). However, the optimal concentration for shoot induction from leaf cultures was obtained with BA 2.0 mg/L and 2.5 mg/L and Kn 0.5 mg/L. Regenerated shoots were rooted on Murashige and Skoog's (MS) medium containing 1.0 mg/L Indole butyric acid (IBA) for effective rooting.

Coleus forskholii is an important ayurvedic herb that has been a part of Indian medicine for centuries. Its common name is makhandi. In the 1970s, researchers isolated a chemically active ingredient in the herb and called it forskholin.

Forskholin is a diterpene (Bhat et al., 1977) isolated from the roots of Coleus froskholii. This alkaloid has a unique property of activating all hormone-sensitive adenylate cyclase enzymes in the biological systems. Activation of adenylate cyclase raises cyclic AMP (cAMP) levels in a variety of tissues. Cyclic AMP is an important cell-regulating compound, which, once formed, activates many other enzymes involved in diverse cellular functions. Under normal situations, cAMP is formed when a stimulatory hormone epinephrine (Okuda et al., 1992) binds to receptor site on the cell membrane and stimulates the activation of adenylate cyclase. This enzyme is incorporated into all cellular membranes, and only the specificity of the receptor determines which hormone activates it in a particular cell. Forskholin bypasses the need for direct hormonal activation of adenylate cyclase. As a result of this direct activation of adenylate cyclase, intracellular cAMP levels rise. The physiological and biochemical effects of a raised intracellular cAMP levels are manifold. Forskholin functions as a platelet aggregation inhibitor, relaxes vascular smooth muscles, decreases intraocular pressure due to glaucoma, and has antiallergy (Rupp et al., 1986) potential since it inhibits IgE-mediated release of histamine and peptide leukotriene from human basophils and mast cells. Forskholin was shown to be a potent inhibitor of cancer metastasis in mice injected with malignant cells.

Biotechnology Journal, Benzyladenine, BA , Shoot Induction, Indole Butyric Acid IBA, Murashige and Skoog medium, Coleus Forskholii, Cyclase Raises Cyclic AMP, cAMP, Murashige and Skoog, MS, Iintraocular Pressure, Biological Systems.