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. 2024 Mar 6;65(1):8.
doi: 10.1186/s40529-024-00415-1.

Hypoglycemic effects of dracorhodin and dragon blood crude extract from Daemonorops draco

Yung-Hao Ching  1 , Fang-Mei Lin  2 , Hong-Chi Chen  3 , Ching-Yun Hsu  1 , Sze Yen P'ng  1 , Tai-No Lin  1 , Yu-Chia Wang  1 , Cheng-Jun Lin  1 , Yi-Chi Chen  2 , Tsung-Jung Ho  4   5   6 , Hao-Ping Chen  7   8
Affiliations

Hypoglycemic effects of dracorhodin and dragon blood crude extract from Daemonorops draco

Yung-Hao Ching et al. Bot Stud. .

Abstract

Background: Dragon blood is a red fruit resin from the palm tree Daemonorops draco and is a herbal ingredient used in the traditional Chinese medicine, "Jinchuang Ointment," which is used to treat non-healing diabetic wounds. According to the Taiwan Herbal Pharmacopeia, the dracorhodin content in dragon blood should exceed 1.0%.

Results: Our findings indicate that dracorhodin and dragon blood crude extracts can stimulate glucose uptake in mouse muscle cells (C2C12) and primary rat aortic smooth muscle cells (RSMC). Dracorhodin is not the only active compound in dragon blood crude extracts from D. draco. Next, we orally administered crude dragon blood extracts to male B6 mice. The experimental group displayed a decreasing trend in fasting blood glucose levels from the second to tenth week. In summary, crude extracts of dragon blood from D. draco demonstrated in vivo hypoglycemic effects in B6 male mice.

Conclusions: We provide a scientific basis "Jinchuang ointment" in treating non-healing wounds in patients with diabetes.

Keywords: Blood glucose; Dracorhodin; Dragon blood; Jinchuang ointment; Wound healing.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
(A), (B) and (C) The Daemonorops draco palm tree on Sumatera Island, Indonesia. (D) Chemical structure of dracorhodin, the indicator compound in D. draco. (E) Dracaena cinnabari, on Socotra Island, Yemen. (F) Dracaena cochinchinensis, in Yunnan Province, China. (G) Chemical structure of leroureirins A and B, the indicator compounds in D. cinnabari and D. cochinchinenesis
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Dracorhodin and crude extracts of dragon blood promote glucose uptake in (A) C2C12 cells and (B) RASMC using 2-NBDG assay
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Effects of inhibitors on glucose uptake induced by (A) dracorhodin and (B) crude extracts of dragon blood in C2C12 myotubes. For the glucose uptake assay using several inhibitors, after pre-incubation in DMEM with a low-glucose concentration in the presence or absence of 40 µM LY294002 or 4 µM compound C
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Effect of dragon blood crude extracts on the fasting blood glucose level in C57BL/6JNarl male mice model, (A) body weight, (B) fasting blood glucose levels, and (C) violin plot. (A) The weekly body weight of the C57BL/6JNarl male mice orally administered dragon blood crude extract suspension (DB) and control solution for ten weeks. The body weight of male B6 mice showed a steady increase during the experimental period, with no significant weight differences observed between the experimental (N = 8) and control groups (N = 8) from Week 0 to Week 10. (B) Fasting blood glucose of the C57BL/6JNarl male mice orally administered with dragon blood crude extract suspension solution compared to the control solution over ten weeks. At seven weeks of age (Week 0), animals were randomly assigned to either the dragon blood crude extract-treated (DB) or the control group and were trained to be accustomed to handling and restraining. The control and the experimental groups showed significant differences at weeks 0, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 10. (C) The violin plot of fasting blood glucose is significantly lower in the BD-treated group than in the control group. The fasting glucose from the DB and the control group from W1 to W5 and form W7 to W10 (W6 data removed). The data were expressed as mean SD (N = 8). Dragon blood crude extract-treated group (Mean ± SD = 165.35 ± 24.60), and control group (Mean ± SD = 182.78 ± 24.81) with p-value = 1.541 × 10− 5
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Pearson’s Chi-squared test of the blood glucose effect of the dragon blood-treated and control groups. Each week’s blood glucose measurement for a given individual between the experimental and control groups was subtracted from the measurement taken from W0. (A) Each blood glucose measurement was classified into the “low” group if < W0; or into the “high” group if > W0. (B) The Chi-square test results indicated that the dragon blood-treated group is statistically significant (p-value = 2.855e-16 < 0.05), indicating the blood glucose lowering effect was non-random even. The odds ratio of lower blood glucose in the BD group compared to the control group was 31.77
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Analysis for animal-fed dragon blood solutions. (A) HPLC analysis, depicting the peak of the reference standard of dragon blood, dracorhodin; (B) UV-Visible spectra of dragon blood solution, before and after storage for one week at 4 °C
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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