Flavonoids produced by tissue culture of Dracaena cambodiana.

Dragon's blood is a traditional medicine used in many countries of many cultures because of its various therapeutic uses, and its main bioactive compounds are flavonoids, which mainly exhibit antitumor and antimicrobial activities. In the process of tissue culture of Dracaena cambodiana, one of its resource plants, red secretion was discovered in the culture when 6-benzylaminopurine was added. Analysis of its constituents by HPLC in comparison with dragon's blood and the standards proved that 17 compounds, including 10 flavonoids, are the same as those in dragon's blood. It is promising that flavonoids from dragon's blood could be produced by tissue culture of its resource plants for the development of new drugs.