Schisandra chinensis (Chinese magnolia vine) is the best-known representative of the genus Schisandra, widely used in the official East-Asian, North American and European medicine. The article recalls the healing value of this species and, above all, presents the current state of knowledge on the chemical composition and biological activity of three other species of the Schisandra genus: Schisandra sphenanthera, Schisandra henryi and Schisandra rubriflora. In addition to dibenzocyclooctadiene lignans (the so-called 'Schisandra chinensis lignans'), they also contain other groups of lignans (e.g. 4aryltetralin, aryltetralone, tetrahydrofuran and butane-type lignans) as the main compounds responsible for biological activity. The lignans are accompanied by other groups of compounds, including triterpenoids and nortriterpenoids. A review of biological studies, e.g. of empirically confirmed hepatoprotective, cytotoxic and anti-HIV-1 activities, proves that these species have a high therapeutic potential and may constitute a new East-Asian proposition for European medicine. The article also draws attention to the possibility of using the biosynthetic potential of the biomass from in vitro cultures of the described species and biotechnological solutions as an alternative to plant raw materials.

We initiated and optimized in vitro culture conditions of the endemic Chinese plant species—Schisandra henryi C. B. Clarke. Different types of in vitro solid cultures (microshoot and callus), cultivation periods (10, 20, and 30 days), and selected concentrations of BA, IBA, GA3 (0 to 3 mg/l) in the Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium were tested. The presence of dibenzocyclooctadiene lignans (schisandrin, gomisin G, schisantherin A and B, deoxyschisandrin and schisandrin C), dibenzylbutane lignans (hernicine B), aryltetralin lignans (wulignan A1 and A2, epiwulignan A1, enshicine, epienshicine and dimethylwulignan A1), and triterpenoids: kadsuric acid and schisanhenric acid was confirmed by UHPLC–MS/MS analysis. Using HPLC–DAD, the qualitative and quantitative profiles of dibenzocyclooctadiene lignans, phenolic acids and flavonoids in methanolic extracts from biomass were estimated. The maximum total amounts of these groups of metabolites were 873.71, 840.89 and 421.98 mg/100 g DW, respectively. The main compounds were: schisantherin B (max. 622.59 mg/100 g DW), schisantherin A (max. 143.74 mg/100 g DW), neochlorogenic acid (max. 472.82 mg/100 g DW), caftaric acid (max. 370.81 mg/100 g DW), trifolin (max. 138.56 mg/100 g DW) and quercitrin (max. 122.54 mg/100 g DW). The highest total amounts of secondary metabolites estimated in the extracts from in vitro cultures were, respectively, 13.0, 7.0, and 1.4 times higher than in the leaf extracts analyzed for comparison. This is the first report on the biosynthetic potential of cells from Schisandra henryi in vitro cultures.