title: Comparison of the chemical profiles and anti-platelet aggregation effects of two "Dragon's Blood" drugs used in traditional Chinese medicine.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  "Dragon's Blood" has been used as a medicine since ancient times by many cultures. In traditional Chinese medicine, the resin obtained from Daemonorops draco (RDD) and the resin from Dracaena cochinchinensis (RDC) are equally prescribed as "Dragon's Blood" for facilitating blood circulation.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To verify the traditional efficacy and elucidate the mechanism, the present study compared the chemical profiles and the pharmacological effects of two species of "Dragon's Blood" mainly used in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  A UPLC-MS fingerprinting method was developed to compare the chemical profiles of the two medicines. The anti-platelet aggregation effects of the two medicines induced by arachidonic acid (AA) were investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The chemical profiles of these two species of "Dragon's Blood" were significantly different. The characteristic constituents were found to be: flavanes in RDD and stilbenes in RDC. In the in vivo platelet inhibition test, performed with the dose of 200 mg/kg on rats, the peak inhibitory effects of RDD and RDC were 35.8% and 27.6%, respectively, compared with the control group. With the in vitro concentrations of 0.2, 0.4 and 0.8 mg/ml, RDD exerted significant inhibition of aggregation by 18.7%, 20.0%, and 61.6%, respectively, and RDC exerted significant inhibition of aggregation by 13.3%, 20.2%, and 31.6%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The fingerprinting method used here is suitable for distinguishing them. All pharmacological tests indicated that RDD was more potent than RDC against platelet aggregation.
authors.affiliation: School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, PR China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: Hu-Biao
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhong-Zhen
authors.initials: ZZ
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Zhi-Ling
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Zhi-Hong
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D028023:Arecaceae / Q000737:chemistry; D002681:China; D031409:Dracaena / Q000737:chemistry; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020834:Ethnopharmacology; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010974:Platelet Aggregation / Q000187:drug effects; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012116:Resins, Plant / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D010936:Plant Extracts; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors; D012116:Resins, Plant; C525191:dragon's blood