title: Natural potential therapeutic agents of neurodegenerative diseases from the traditional herbal medicine Chinese dragon's blood.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dragon's blood has been used as a famous traditional medicine since ancient times by many cultures. It is a deep red resin, obtained from more than 20 different species of four distinct genera. Red resin of Dracaena cochinchinensis S.C. Chen, known as Chinese dragon's blood or Yunnan dragon's blood, has been shown to promote blood circulation, alleviate inflammation, and to treat stomach ulcers, diarrhea, diabetes, and bleeding. This study investigated an effective approach to identify natural therapeutic agents for neurodegeneration from herbal medicine. The dichloride extract and isolated effective constituents of Chinese dragon's blood showed quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) inducing activity and anti-inflammatory effect significantly, which are therapy targets of various neurodegenerative diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  Multiple chromatography and spectra analysis were utilized to afford effective constituents. Then Hepa 1c1c7 and BV-2 cells were employed to assay their NQO1 inducing and anti-inflammatory activities, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Bioactivities guided isolation afforded 21 effective constituents, including two new polymers cochinchinenene E (1), cochinchinenene F (2) and a new steroid dracaenol C (16). The main constituent 3 (weight percent 0.2%), 5 (weight percent 0.017%), 4 (weight percent 0.009%), 9 (weight percent 0.094%), 10 (weight percent 0.017%) and 8 (weight percent 0.006%) are responsible for the anti-inflammatory activities of Chinese dragon's blood. While, new compounds 1, 2 and known compounds 5, 11 showed good NQO1 inducing activities. The brief feature of the activities and structures was discussed accordingly.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overviewing the bioactivities and phytochemical study result, 4'-hydroxy-2,4-dimethoxydihydrochalcone (3) and pterostilbene (5) as effective constituents of Chinese dragon's blood, were found to be potential candidate therapeutic agents for neurodegenerative diseases.
authors: School of Traditional Chinese Materia Medica 49(#), Key Laboratory of Structure-Based Drug Design and Discovery, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Ministry of Education, Wenhua Road 103, Shenyang 110016, China. Electronic address: liningsypharm@163.com.
authors: Ning
authors: N
authors: Li
authors: Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
authors: Zhongjun
authors: Z
authors: Ma
authors: School of Traditional Chinese Materia Medica 49(#), Key Laboratory of Structure-Based Drug Design and Discovery, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Ministry of Education, Wenhua Road 103, Shenyang 110016, China.
authors: Mujie
authors: M
authors: Li
authors: School of Traditional Chinese Materia Medica 49(#), Key Laboratory of Structure-Based Drug Design and Discovery, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Ministry of Education, Wenhua Road 103, Shenyang 110016, China.
authors: Yachao
authors: Y
authors: Xing
authors: College of Life and Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110004, China.
authors: Yue
authors: Y
authors: Hou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D002460:Cell Line; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D031409:Dracaena / Q000737:chemistry*; D007249:Inflammation / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D051379:Mice; D016660:NAD(P)H Dehydrogenase (Quinone) / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012116:Resins, Plant
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts; D012116:Resins, Plant; D016660:NAD(P)H Dehydrogenase (Quinone); C507703:NQO1 protein, rat; C525191:dragon's blood
keywords: 1,2,4,5-Tetrachloro-3,6-dimethoxybenzene (PubChem CID: 13678).; 10-Hydroxy-11-methoxy dracaenone (PubChem CID: 3081034); 3,4-Dihydroxyallylbenzene (PubChem CID: 70775); 4'-Hydroxy-2,4,6-trimethoxydihydro chalcone (PubChem CID: 189670); 4'-Hydroxy-2,4-dimethoxydihydrochalcone (PubChem CID: 5319081); 6,4'-Dihydroxy-7-methoxyhomoisoflavane (PubChem CID: 25014549); 6-Methoxy-7-hydroxyflavone (PubChem CID: 14376438); 7,4'-Dihydroxy-homoisoflavane (PubChem CID: 11708657); 7-Hydroxy-4'-methoxyflavane (PubChem CID: 3483299); Anti-inflammatory effect; Chinese Dragon׳s Blood; Dracaena cochinchinensis S.C. Chen; NQO1 inducing activity; Polymers; Pterostilbene (PubChem CID: 5281727); Therapeutic agents for neurodegenerative diseases