background: saffron (crocus sativus l.) is a common but very expensive herbal medicine. as an important traditional medicine, it has an outstanding effect in treating irregular and painful menstruation. recently, the over-demand tendency of saffron results in an unusual phenomenon in the medicinal markets. adulterants and saffron-like substitutes are intentionally mixed into medicinal markets a...

background: there is much debate about effects of medicinal plants such as saffron (crocus sativus) on human health. women are highly involved in farming and processing of this plant. this study is aimed at evaluating the saffron impacts on miscarriage rate of female farmers working in saffron fields. methods: this was a prospective case-control study on pregnant female farmers during harvestin...

islamic traditional medicine (itm) is a holistic system of medicine. saffron (crocus sativus) is one of the most famous plants cultivated in iran and has a wide range of activities such as oxytocic, anti-carcinogenic, exhilarant, anti-depressant, and anti-asthma effects. in addition, saffron can increase the bioavailability and enhance absorption of other drugs. this study comprises a bibliogra...

current therapies for breast cancer are often limited by short-term efficacy due to the emergence of drug resistance. there has been increased interest in the use of naturally occurring compounds with chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic effects in the treatment of cancers. saffron, dry stigmas crocus sativus l., used in iran as a spice, is known for its anticancer properties. in this study, th...

The immunomodulatory activity of an Indian neutraceutical spice, saffron (Crocus sativus) was studied on Th(1) and Th(2) limbs of the immune system. Oral administration of alcoholic extract of Crocus sativus (ACS) at graded dose levels from 1.56-50 mg/kg p.o. potentiated the Th(2) response of humoral immunity causing the significant increases in agglutinating antibody titre in mice at a dose of...

BACKGROUND Crocus sativus L. (saffron) is used in folk medicine, for example as an antiedematogenic agent. We aimed to evaluate the antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activity of saffron extracts in mice. RESULTS We used aqueous and ethanolic maceration extracts of Crocus sativus L. stigma and petals. Antinociceptive activity was examined using the hot plate and writhing tests. The effect ...

Crocus sativus L. belonging to the family Iridaceae (syn - kesar) comprises the dried red stigma and is widely cultivated in Iran and other countries such as India and Greece. Saffron contains more than 150 volatile and aroma-yielding compounds mainly terpenes, terpene alcohol, and their esters. The bitter taste and an iodoform or hay-like fragrance are caused by chemicals picrocrocin and safra...

BACKGROUND In recent years phytotherapy has been explored as a source for alternative treatments for mood disorders. One potential candidate is saffron (Crocus sativus L.), whose main bioactive components are crocins and safranal. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of affron®, a standardised stigmas extract from Crocus sativus L. for improving mood, stress, anxie...

Crocus sativus is a triploid sterile plant characterized by its long red stigmas, which produce and store significant quantities of carotenoid derivatives formed from the oxidative cleavage of beta-carotene and zeaxanthin. The present study reports on the genomic structures of two lycopene-beta-cyclase genes, CstLcyB1 and CstLcyB2a, and on their transcription patterns in different C. sativus ti...

More than 30 mineral elements have been found with different key functions in helping plants and animals to survive and live healthy. As a direct result, they have always attracted the attention of scientists. The quest is to find some efficient analytical and quantitative procedures in this study to determine some mineral and trace elements of Iranian Crocus sativus L. corms. Several studies h...