Compound Dragon’s blood capsule alleviates the degree of myocardial ischemia by improving inflammation and oxidative stress

Abstract Background: Compound Dragon's blood capsule (CDC) is a patent medicine mainly composed of dragon’s blood (Dracaena cochinchinensis (Lour.) S. C. Chen), notoginseng (Parmx notoginseng (Burk.) F. H. Chen) and borneol (C10H18O) for the treatment of stabilize coronary heart disease (CHD) and myocardial ischemia (MI). This paper is to investigate the anti-myocardial ischemia properties of CDC both in vivo and vitro.Methods: The fingerprint of CDC was established by UPLC-Q/TOF-MS. The hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) model was established by using H9c2 cells. The levels of LDH, SOD and MDA were detected by colorimetric method. Moreover, the MI model of rats was established by isoprenaline hydrochloride (ISO), the mortality rate was recorded, the changes in J point of electrocardiogram were determined, the expressions of the myocardial markers, oxidative stress markers (CK, CK-MB, LDH and SOD) and inflammatory mediators (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10, IL-1β and NO) in serum were detected. Results: The fingerprint of CDC was established and 10 mainly active components were identified: 7,4'-dihydroxyflavone, resveratrol, loureirin A, loureirin B, pterostilbene were identified from Dragon's blood, notoginsenoside R1, ginsenoside Rg1, ginsenoside Rb1, oleanolic acid, ginsenoside Rd were identified from notoginseng. In vitro study, CDC significantly improved H9c2 cell viability and SOD level (P < 0.05), decreased LDH and MDA level (P < 0.05). In vivo study, CDC increased survival rate and SOD level of serum, decreased J-point of ECG, CK-MB, LDH, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10 level (P < 0.05).Conclusions: CDC had a significant anti-myocardial ischemia effect by alleviating inflammation and oxidative stress, suggesting that CDC is a suitable adjuvent to treat CHD, dragon’s blood has the prospect of developing other new drugs.