Croton draco also known as Sangre de Drago or Dragon's Blood

Complement inhibiting properties of dragon's blood from Croton draco.
Z Naturforsch [C]. 2004 Jul-Aug. Tsacheva I, Rostan J, Iossifova T, Vogler B, Odjakova M, Navas H, Kostova I, Kojouharova M, Kraus W. Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology, Sofia University, 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria.
The latex of Croton draco, its extracts and several latex components have been investigated for their influence on both classical (CP) and alternative (AP) activation pathways of the complement system using a hemolytic assay. The best inhibition was found for the classical pathway. The latex, ethyl acetate and ethyl ether extracts exhibited extremely high inhibition on the CP. The flavonoid myricitrin, the alkaloid taspine and the cyclopeptides P1 and P2 showed high inhibition on CP.

Croton draco chemical composition
Croton draco (Euphorbiaceae) from Guadalupe, San José, Costa Rica was phytochemically studied (leaves, seeds, wood, bark, sap and flowers separately). Commonly known compounds such as 1-hydroxyjunenol, p-hydroxybenzaldehyde, p-methoxybenzoic acid, 3,4,5-trimethoxycinnamyl alcohol, the coumarin scopoletin, the nor-terpenoids 9-dehydrovomifoliol and 2,3-dihydrovomifoliol were obtained. Taspine, two aporphinic alkaloids, the diterpenes 9(11)-dehydrokaurenic acid, hardwikiic acid, the corresponding new 12-oxo derivative as well as five clerodanes and a phorbol ester were also isolated.

Croton draco extracts
Croton draco is sold as powder or as extracts in concentrations of 4 to 1 and 10 to 1.

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