Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) is now generally perceived to be the dominant operating system in conventional medicine. It is unsurprising then that some have counseled complementary and alternative medicine practitioners to resist EBM . The efficacy of medicinal herbs does need to be established and toxicity, contraindications and side effects also need to be investigated, and this is best done...

Using a subtractive hybridization approach, differentially expressed genes involved in the light response in saffron stigmas were identified. Twenty-two differentially expressed transcript-derived fragments were cloned and sequenced. Two of them were highly induced by light and had sequence similarity to early inducible proteins (ELIP) and SOUL heme-binding proteins. Using these sequences, we s...

Considering the global popularity and also the various biological and medicinal properties of saffron, this study was conducted to assess the influence of its aqueous extracts administration on blood pressure, pressure-rate product (PRP) and electrocardiogram (ECG) indices of rat. Animals were divided to control (CTL), SAF50, SAF100, and SAF200 groups that orally received tap water, aqueous ext...

A procedure allowing hydrolysis reactions to be conducted in a dynamic supercritical-CO2 medium was developed for quantifying total safranal (viz. free safranal present in the sample+safranal resulting from picrocrocin hydrolysis), which are the main component of the essential oil and responsible for the characteristic aroma of saffron. The proposed method allows total safranal amounts over the...

Inhibitors of acetylcholine breakdown by acetylcholinesterase (AChE) constitute the main therapeutic modality for Alzheimer's disease. In the search for natural products with inhibitory action on AChE, this study investigated the activity of saffron extract and its constituents by in vitro enzymatic and molecular docking studies. Saffron has been used in traditional medicine against Alzheimer's...

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a retinal neurodegenerative disease whose development and progression are the results of a complex interaction between genetic and environmental risk factors. Both oxidative stress and chronic inflammation play a significant role in the pathogenesis of AMD. Experimental studies in rats with light-induced photoreceptors degeneration demonstrated that saf...

saffron is a strategic exporting crop in our country and iran is known as the greatest producer and exporter of it in the world. deficient packaging systems can be the most common reasons of the decline in the iran's share in exporting saffron. appling the modern methods of packaging such as hurdle technology can greatly maintain the quality of saffron. despite developments in saffron packaging...

PURPOSE To test whether the saffron extract (Crocus sativus L.) given as a dietary supplement counteracts the effects of continuous light exposure in the albino rat retina. METHODS Three experimental groups of Sprague-Dawley rats were used. Experimental animals were prefed either saffron or beta-carotene (1 mg extract/kg/d) before they were exposed to bright continuous light (BCL) for 24 hour...

OBJECTIVE(S) This study was designed to evaluate the cardioprotective effect of Crocus sativus L. (saffron) aqueous extract and safranal, the major constituent of the essential oil of saffron, on lipid peroxidation, biochemical parameters and histopathological findings in isoproterenol (ISO)-induced myocardial infarction in Wistar rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS The saffron extract (20, 40, 80 an...