BACKGROUND

Espada plant, local name for the snake plant (Dracaena trifasciata) in the Philippines, is characterized by its upright sword-like leaves with vibrant yellow edges under the variety of Laurentii in the Asparagaceae family. This plant has been identified as a viable candidate for cancer research.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the antiproliferative and cytotoxic capabilities of a semi-purified methanolic extract of D. trifasciata extracted as a basis for cancer research.

METHODS

The plant extracts were subjected to (1) qualitative phytochemical analysis, (2) instrumentation analysis which includes Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR) and Total Flavonoid Content (TFC), to quantify bioactive ingredients, analyze structures, and evaluate biological chemicals, respectively, and tested to (3) biological assay on the HCT 116 human colorectal cancer cell line using the MTT Cytotoxic Assay.

RESULTS

D. trifasciata extracts revealed the presence of flavonoids, saponins, sterols, triterpenes, alkaloids, and glycosides, all of which contain an OH group and have a high solubility in polar solvents. It correlates to the results of TFC, found to be within 266.8333 mg – 622.6801 mg presented as ?g Quercetin per mL with a linear line of y=0.0005x + 0.023 with a coefficient R2 value of 0.9933. This finding corresponds to FTIR-ATR data, which shows a prominent broad appearance of -OH (primary and secondary alcohol) at peak 3327.21. In MTT Cytotoxic Assay, it has a minimal IC50 than Doxorubicin, as seen in Trial 2 with IC50 = 0.8012 ?g/mL, while antiproliferative activity revealed that D. trifasciata has minimal inhibitory activity in Trials 1 and 3 at the same concentration of 3.125 ?g/ mL as compared to the high antiproliferative property of positive control, as seen in Trial 2. Data showed that the D. trifasciata extract has minimal effectiveness even at 1.56 ?g/mL concentration, implying that other extraction techniques such as fractionation and purification may be used to satisfy its antiproliferative property.

CONCLUSION

The D. trifasciata extract contains polyalcohol, phenol, polyphenol, and polyhydroxylated metabolites, which are structures that correspond to the major groups of flavonoids (structures that have antioxidant properties), contributing to the high TFC values.

Human ; Plants ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Dracaena

Dracaena marginata is a widely cultivated horticultural plant in the world, which has high ornamental and medicinal value. In this study, the whole genome of leaves from D. marginata was sequenced by Illumina HiSeq 4000 platform. The chloroplast genome were assembled for functional annotation, sequence characteristics and phylogenetic analysis. The results showed that the chloroplast genome of D. marginata composed of four regions with a size of 154 926 bp, which was the smallest chloroplast genome reported for Dracaena species to date. A total of 132 genes were identified, including 86 coding genes, 38 tRNA genes and 8 rRNA genes. Codon bias analysis found that the codon usage bias was weak and there was a bias for using A/U base endings. 46 simple sequence repeat and 54 repeats loci were detected in the chloroplast genome, with the maximum detection rate in the large single copy region and inverted repeat region, respectively. The inverted repeats boundaries of D. marginata and Dracaena were highly conserved, whereas gene location differences occurred. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that D. serrulata and D. cinnabari form a monophyletic clade, which was the closest relationship and conformed to the morphological classification characteristics. The analysis of the chloroplast genome of D. marginata provides important data basis for species identification, genetic diversity and chloroplast genome engineering of Dracaena.
Phylogeny ; Dracaena ; Genome, Chloroplast/genetics* ; Base Sequence ; Genes, Plant

As a traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese dragon's blood has multiple effects, such as activating blood to remove blood stasis, softening and dispelling stagnation, astringent and hemostasis, clearing swelling and relieving pain, regulating menstruation and rectifying the blood, so it is called "an effective medicine of promoting blood circulation". It has been widely used clinically to treat a variety of diseases. With the further research on Chinese dragon's blood, its anti-tumor medicinal value is gradually emerging. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that Chinese dragon's blood exerts anti-tumor effects mainly by inhibiting cell proliferation, inducing apoptosis, inducing DNA damage and cell cycle arrest, inducing senescence and autophagy of tumor cells, inhibiting metastasis and angiogenesis, as well as reversing multidrug resistance. This article focuses on the research progress on anti-tumor effects of Chinese dragon's blood extract and its chemical components, with a view to provide new references for the in-depth research and reasonable utilization of Chinese dragon's blood.
China ; Dracaena ; Female ; Plant Extracts ; Resins, Plant

Resina Draconis, a rare and precious traditional medicine in China, is known as the "holy medicine for promoting blood circulation". According to the national drug standard, it's derived from the resin extracted from the wood of Dracaena cochinchinensis, a Liliaceae plant. In addition, a variety of Dracaena species all over the world can form red resins, and there is currently no molecular identification method that can efficiently identify the origin of Dracaena medicinal materials. In this study, seven species of Dracaena distributed in China were selected as the research objects. Four commonly used DNA barcodes(ITS2, matK, rbcL and psbA-trnH), and four highly variable regions(trnP-psaJ, psbK-psbI, trnT-trnL, clpP) in chloroplast genome were used to evaluate the identification efficiency of Dracaena species. The results showed that clpP sequence fragment could accurately identify seven species of Dracaena plants. However, due to the long sequence of clpP fragment, there were potential problems in the practical application process. We found that the combined fragment "psbK-psbI+ trnP-psaJ" can also be used for accurate molecular identification of the Resina Draconis origin plants and relative species of Dracaena, which were both relatively short sequences in the combined fragment, showing high success rates of amplification and sequencing. Therefore, the "psbK-psbI+ trnP-psaJ" combined fragment can be used as the DNA barcode fragments for molecular identification of Resina Dracon's origin plants and relative species of Dracaena. Research on the identification of Dracaena species, the results of this study can be used to accurately identify the original material of Resina Draconis, and providing effective means for identification, rational development and application of Resina Draconis base source.
China ; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic ; DNA, Plant/genetics* ; Dracaena/genetics* ; Plants ; Resins, Plant ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

Resin-containing drugs in Dracaena from four different appearances were analyzed by headspace sampling-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(HS-GC-MS) metabolomics technique and hierarchical clustering analysis(HCA) chemometrics method. This study was to analyze differential volatile components in resin-containing drugs in Dracaena from different appearance and metabolic pathways. The results of partial least squares discriminant analysis(PLS-DA) and HCA analysis indicated that there was little difference in volatile components between fiber-rich sample and hollow cork cambium sample, however, the volatile components in the two samples compared with whole body resin-containing sample and resin-secreting aggregated sample had a large metabolic difference. Twenty differential metabolites were screened by VIP and P values of PLS-DA. The content of these differential metabolites was significantly higher in whole body resin-containing sample and resin-secreting aggregated sample than in fiber-rich sample and hollow cork cambium sample. Sixteen significant metabolic pathways were obtained through enrichment analysis(P<0.05), mainly involved in terpenoids biosynthesis and phenylpropanoid metabolism. This result provided a reference for further study of resin formation mechanism of resin-containing drugs in Dracaena from different appearances. At the same time, it also provided a reference for establishing a multi-index quality evaluation system.
Cluster Analysis ; Discriminant Analysis ; Dracaena ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Resins, Plant

As an important integral part of traditional Chinese medicine chemical biology( TCMCB),it is of great importance to rapid isolate,and reliably identify the chemical components in herbal medicines. Phytochemical studies on the anti-inflammatory active part of Chinese dragon's blood,the red resin of Dracaena cochinchinensis,resulted in the isolation of two compounds,nordracophane( 1) and dracophane( 2),using LC-MS and chromatographic techniques( Silica gel,ODS and preparative HPLC). The structures,cyclic dihydrochalcane trimers,were elucidated on the basis of 1 D and 2 D NMR,MS,IR and UV spectral analysis. Compound 1 is a new compound,and 2 is isolated from D. cochinchinensis for the first time. Both compounds exhibited significant inhibition of nitric oxide production in lipopolysaccharides( LPS)-stimulated RAW264. 7 cells with IC50 values of( 14. 9±4. 50) and( 9. 0±0. 7) μmol·L-1.
Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; isolation & purification ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Dracaena ; Mass Spectrometry ; Mice ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Plant Extracts ; isolation & purification ; RAW 264.7 Cells

The research of anti-hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) drug has attracted more and more attention. Natural products are the important source of active compounds for cancer treatment. A biflavonoid HIS-4 was isolated from Resina draconis in our previous study. MTT assay, hoechst staining, and flow cytometry analysis were used to investigate the effects of HIS-4 on the proliferation and apoptosis of human hepatoma HepG2 and SK-HEP-1 cells. Moreover, the effects of HIS-4 on the migration and invasion ability of HepG2 and SK-HEP-1 cells were evaluated by wound healing assay and Transwell assay. In addition, MTT assay, flow cytometry analyses, Hoechst staining, wound healing assay, Transwell assay, and tube formation assay were used to explore the anti-angiogenic activity of HIS-4 in human umbilical vein endothelial cells(HUVECs). Mechanistically, the HIS-4 regulatory of signal pathways in H9 epG2 and SK-HEP-1 cells were analyzed by Western blot. This results showed that HIS-4 suppressed the proliferation of human hepatoma HepG2 and SK-HEP-1 cells. Moreover HIS-4 induced their apoptosis of HepG2 and SK-HEP-1 cells. HIS-4 inhibited the migration and invasion of HepG2 and SK-HEP-1 cells. Additionally, HIS-4 exhibited angiogenesis effects. Mechanistically, up-regulation of MAPK signaling pathway and down-regulation of mTOR signaling pathway may be responsible for anti-hepatoma activity of HIS-4. Therefore, HIS-4 may be a promising candidate drug for HCC treatment.
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; pharmacology ; Apoptosis ; Biflavonoids ; pharmacology ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Cell Movement ; Cell Proliferation ; Dracaena ; chemistry ; Hep G2 Cells ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Phytochemicals ; pharmacology

Ten compounds were isolated from the artificially induced dragon's blood of Dracaena cambodiana by various column chromatographies on silica and sephadex LH-20 gel. Based on spectral analysis of NMR and MS, their structures were identified as 3, 4-dihydroxyallylbenzene (1), 3', 4', 5'-trimethoxycinnamylalcohol (2), pinoresinol (3), (2R)-7, 4'-dihydroxy-8-methylflavane (4), (2R)-7,4'-dihydroxy-5-methoxy-8-methylflavane(5),(2S)-7,3'-dihydroxy-4'-methoxy-8-methylflavane(6) ,(2S)-4',7-dihydroxy-6, 8-dimethylflavane(7), 4,2',4'-trihydroxychalcone(8), 4,4'-dihydroxy-2-methoxydihydrochalcon(9) and Cambodianin E (10). Antibacterial activity assay showed that compounds 1, 4 and 10 have inhibitory effect on Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cuben, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum and Ralstonia solanacearum.
Antifungal Agents ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Dracaena ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Fusarium ; drug effects ; Molecular Structure ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization

This study is to establish an UPLC fingerprint of Resina Draconis from different manufacturers, which can provide a comprehensive evaluation for its quality control. The analysis was performed on a Phenomenex Kinetex 2.6 μ C18 100A column by agradientelution program with acetonitrile-water as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.7 mL x min(-1). The column temperature was 40 degrees C and the detection wavelengthwas 280 nm. The fingerprints of 18 batches of Draconis Resina were further evaluated by chemometrics methods including similarity analysis (SA), hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA). As a result, there were 15 common peaks, 13 of which had been identified by LC-Q-TOF MS, and the similarity degrees of 15 batches of the samples was more than 0.9, and the samples were divided into 4 clusters by their quality difference. The method is reproducible, simple and reliablethat it can be used for quality control and evaluation of Resina Draconis from different manufacturers.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Dracaena ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Principal Component Analysis ; Quality Control

OBJECTIVETo establish an HPLC method for simultaneous determination of contents of loureirin A, loureirin B, 7,4'-dihydroxy flavone, pterostilbene and resveratrol in resina draconis and its extracts.

METHODKromasil 100-5C18 column (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) was used with the mobile phase of acetonitrile-1% glacial acetic acid at a flow rate of 1.0 mL x min(-1) and the column temperature at 40 degrees C. The detective wave length of loureirin A and B was detected at 278 nm, and 7,4'-dihydroxy flavone, pterostilbene and resveratrol was at 319 nm.

RESULTAll the five active components reached the resolved peaks within 40 min, indicating a good linearity (r > or = 0.999 7). The average recoveries of loureirin A, loureirin B, 7,4'-dihydroxy flavone, pterostilbene and resveratrol in resina draconis were 102.9%, 96.81%, 97.29%, 100.7% and 103.7%, with RSDs of 0.23%, 1.5%, 0.42%, 0.58% and 0.34%, respectively. The average recoveries of loureirin A, loureirin B, 7,4'-dihydroxy flavone, pterostilbene and resveratrol in extract of resina draconis were 102. 2% , 96. 93%, 97. 90% , 102.0% and 103.3%, with RSDs of 1.7%, 0.91%, 1.4%, 1.5% and 1.2%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe method is so easy, accurate, highly repeatable and stable that it provides good reference for the quality control of resina draconis and its extracts.

Chalcones ; analysis ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Dracaena ; chemistry ; Flavones ; analysis ; Resins, Plant ; analysis ; Stilbenes ; analysis