A single addition of 200 mu M methyl jasmonate (MJA) to high-density cell cultures of Panax notoginseng enhanced ginsenoside production in both shake-flask ( 250 ml) and airlift bioreactor ( ALR; 1 l working volume). Repeated elicitation with two additions of 200 mu M MJA during cultivation further induced the ginsenoside biosynthesis in both cultivation vessels. The content of ginsenosides Rg(1), Re, Rb-1 and Rd in the ALR was increased from, respectively, 0.18 +/- 0.01, 0.21 +/-0.01, 0.21 +/- 0.02 and 0 mg per100 mg dry cell weight (DW) in untreated cell cultures (control) to 0.32 +/- 0.02, 0.36 +/- 0.02, 0.72 +/- 0.06 and 0.08 +/- 0.01 mg per100 mg DW with a single addition of MJA and further increased to 0.43 +/- 0.02, 0.46 +/- 0.03, 1.09 +/-0.07 and 0.14 +/- 0.02 mg per100 mg DW with two additions of MJA. Interestingly, the activity of the Rb-1 biosynthetic enzyme (UDPG-ginsenoside Rd glucosyltransferase), was also increased with a single elicitation by MJA and increased again by a repeated elicitation, which coincided well with the trend in the increase in Rb1 content. In order to further improve the cell density and ginsenoside production, a strategy of MJA repeated elicitation combined with sucrose feeding was adopted. The final cell density and total ginsenoside content in the ALR reached 27.3 +/- 1.5 g/l and 2.02 +/-0.06 mg per100 mg DW; and the maximum production of ginsenoside Rg(1), Re, Rb-1 and Rd was 111.8 +/- 4.7, 117.2 +/- 4.6, 290.2 +/- 5.1 and 32.7 +/- 8.1 mg/l, respectively. The strategies demonstrated and the information obtained in this work are useful for the efficient large-scale production of bioactive ginsenosides by plant cell cultures.