Research Article Sanguis draconis, a Dragon’s Blood Resin, Attenuates High Glucose-Induced Oxidative Stress and Endothelial Dysfunction in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells Yi Chang, 1,2,3 Ting-Chen Chang, 4 Jie-Jen Lee, 5,6,7 Nen-Chung Chang, 8 Yung-Kai Huang, 9 Cheuk-Sing Choy, 10,11 and Thanasekaran Jayakumar 3,5 1 Department of Anesthesiology, Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, 95 Wen-Chang Road, Taipei 101, Taiwan 2 School of Medicine, Fu-Jen Catholic University, 510 Zhong-Zheng Road, Taipei 205, Taiwan 3 Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan 4 Department of Lymphatic Vascular Surgery, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan 5 Department of Pharmacology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan 6 Department of Surgery, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei 104, Taiwan 7 Mackay Junior College of Medicine, Nursing, and Management, Taipei 112, Taiwan 8 Department of Cardiology, School of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan 9 School of Oral Hygiene, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan 10 Emergency and Intensive Care Department, Min-Sheng Hospital 168, Taoyuan 330, Taiwan 11 Department of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan Correspondence should be addressed to Cheuk-Sing Choy; prof.choy@gmail.com and hanasekaran Jayakumar; tjaya 2002@yahoo.co.in Received 11 April 2014; Accepted 10 May 2014; Published 2 June 2014 Academic Editor: Duen-Suey Chou Copyright © 2014 Yi Chang et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Hyperglycaemia, a characteristic feature of diabetes mellitus, induces endothelial dysfunction and vascular complications by limiting the proliferative potential of these cells. Here we aimed to investigate the efect of an ethanolic extract of Sanguis draconis (SD), a kind of dragon’s blood resin that is obtained from Daemonorops draco (Palmae), on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) under high-glucose (HG) stimulation and its underlying mechanism. Concentration-dependent (0–50 g/mL) assessment of cell viability showed that SD does not afect cell viability with a similar trend up to 48 h. Remarkably, SD (10– 50 g/mL) signiicantly attenuated the high-glucose (25 and 50mM) induced cell toxicity in a concentration-dependent manner. SD inhibited high glucose-induced nitrite (NO) and lipid peroxidation (MDA) production and reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation in HUVEC. Western blot analysis revealed that SD treatments abolished HG-induced phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK 1/2), nuclear transcription factor, B (NF-B), VCAM-1, and E-selectin, and it also blocked the breakdown of PARP-116 kDa protein in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, we found that SD increased the expression of Bcl-2 and decreased Bax protein expression in HG-stimulated HUVEC. hus, these results of this study demonstrate for the irst time that SD inhibits glucose induced oxidative stress and vascular inlammation in HUVEC by inhibiting the ERK/NF-B/PARP- 1/Bax signaling cascade followed by suppressing the activation of VCAM-1 and E-selectin. hese data suggest that SD may have a therapeutic potential in vascular inlammation due to the decreased levels of oxidative stress, apoptosis, and PARP-1 activation. 1. Introduction Vascular disorders through overexpression of adhesion molecules are thought to play in the pathogenesis of athe- rosclerosis. Adhesion molecules are proteins which regulate the interaction between endothelium and leukocytes. An increase in their expression on the endothelial surface causes increased adhesion of leukocytes. Endothelial cells in human atherosclerotic lesions have been shown to overexpress intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell Hindawi Publishing Corporation e Scientific World Journal Volume 2014, Article ID 423259, 10 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/423259