Crocus sativus L. (Saffron) Extract and its Active Constituents (Crocin and Safranal) on Ischemia‐Reperfusion in Rat Skeletal Muscle

Abstract

Saffron and its constituents have been shown to decrease ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in kidney or brain tissues. In this study, the effects of saffron ethanolic extract and its constituents, crocin and safranal, were evaluated in skeletal muscle during I/R injury. Hind limb ischemia was induced using clamping the common femoral artery and vein. After 2 h ischemia, the clamp of the femoral vessels of animals was taken off and the animal underwent 1h reperfusion. Muscle injuries were evaluated by recording of the electromyographic (EMG) potentials and performing some biochemical analysis including thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), total sulfhydryl (SH) groups and antioxidant capacity of muscle (using FRAP assay). The ethanolic extract of saffron (5, 20 and 80 mg kg−1), crocin (50, 200 and 400 mg kg−1), safranal (0.1, 0.25 and 0.5 ml kg−1) and normal saline (10 ml kg−1) were administered intraperitoneally 1 h prior reperfusion. The average peak-to-peak amplitude during I/R was significantly increased in extract, crocin and safranal groups in comparison with control-ischemic group. Following saffron, crocin and safranal administration, the total SH contents and antioxidant capacity were elevated in muscle flap. The MDA level was declined significantly in test groups. It is concluded that saffron extract and its constituents show a protective effect against lower limb I/R in rat.

Protective Effect of Crocus sativus Stigma Extract and Crocin (trans-crocin 4) on Methyl Methanesulfonate–Induced DNA Damage in Mice Organs

“…Reduction of lipid peroxidation, improving of total antioxidant capacity, total thiol contents, and GSH pool, as well as antioxidant enzyme activities such as superoxide dismutase, catalase, and GSH-related enzymes were reported for saffron, crocin, and safranal following ischemia-reperfusion injury Saleem et al, 2006;Hosseinzadeh et al, 2008;Zheng et al, 2007). The modifying effects of saffron and its carotenoids on antioxidant enzymatic activities have also been shown in other experimental models (Premkumar et al, 2001;Premkumar et al, 2003;Shen and Qian, 2006).…”

“…Saffron is used in folk medicine as an anodyne, antidepressant, sedative, respiratory decongestant, anticatarrhal, expectorant, antispasmodic, eupeptic, stomachic, carminative, diaphoretic, gingival sedative, aphrodisiac, and emmenagogue (Rios et al, 1996;Abdullaev and Espinosa-Aguirre, 2004). Further, modern pharmacological studies have shown that saffron extract or its active constituents have learning-and memoryimproving properties (Abe and Saito, 2000;Pitsikas et al, 2007), anticonvulsant (Hosseinzadeh and Khosravan, 2002;Hosseinzadeh and Talebzadeh, 2005), antidepressant (Hosseinzadeh et al, 2004;Akhondzadeh et al, 2004), antiinflammatory (Hosseinzadeh and Younesi, 2002), antiischemic Hosseinzadeh et al, 2008;Zheng et al, 2007), and antitumor effects (Abdullaev, 1993(Abdullaev, , 2002Abdullaev and Espinosa-Aguirre, 2004). Radical scavenging, antioxidant activity, and promotion of the diffusivity of oxygen in different tissues were also reported for saffron extract or its bioactive constituents (Rios et al, 1996;Verma and Bordia, 1998;Assimopoulou et al, 2005;Kanakis et al, 2007a).…”

Protective effects of saffron (Crocus sativus) against lethal ventricular arrhythmias induced by heart reperfusion in rat: A potential anti-arrhythmic agent

“…The cardioprotective effect of saffron and one of its constituents, crocin, in a stressful condition following the injection of high dose of isoproterenol has been confirmed in recent studies (Goyal et al, 2010;Joukar et al, 2010;Sachdeva et al, 2010). In addition, the attenuation effect of saffron on ischemicreperfusion injury of skeletal muscle (Hosseinzadeh et al, 2009), kidney (Hosseinzadeh et al, 2005) and ischemic brain tissue injury (Vakili et al, 2011) is reported. The effect of saffron on electrophysiological aspects such as slowing the electrical conductivity of the heart, long QT interval (Joukar, 2012) and increasing the Wenckebach block cycle length and nodal functional refractory period in vitro (Khori et al, 2011), was also documented.…”

Effect of Saffron on Histomorphometric Changes of Testicular Tissue in Rat

“…Saffron's extract effect on declining blood pressure and its loosening influences on smooth muscles on rats and guinea pigs has been examined (Fatehi et al, 2003). Researchers have demonstrated that saffron's extract reduces ischemia and blood reestablishment in kidney and skeleton muscles (Hosseinzadeh et al, 2009;Hosseinzadeh and Younesi, 2022). Saffron's potential anti arrhythmias role has been reported in curing supraventricular tachycardia arrhythmias.…”