Evaluation of the Cytotoxic Activity of Crocin and Safranal, Constituents of Saffron, in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (KB Cell Line)

Abstract

Crocin and safranal are active ingredients in the saffron. Some studies have demonstrated antitumor activities of saffron ingredients. The aim of this study was to evaluate cytotoxic effects of crocin and safranal in oral squamous cell carcinoma (KB cells) and NIH 3T3 cell line as nonmalignant cells. The cells were incubated with crocin and safranal at 37°C for 24, 48, and 72 h, and cell viability was quantitated by MTT assay. Apoptotic cells, cell cycle distribution, and sub-G1 fraction were determined using propidium iodide staining of DNA fragmentation by flow cytometry. Crocin (0.05-4 mM) and safranal (0.2-3.2 mM) significantly inhibited the growth of KB cells (the inhibitory growth effects of all concentrations for both were >50% after 72 h), while they had less inhibitory effects on NIH 3T3 cells viability. The IC values of crocin and safranal against NIH 3T3 cells after 72 h were determined as 2.8 and 0.3 mM, respectively. Crocin and safranal induced a sub-G1 peak in the flow cytometry histogram of treated cells compared to control cells indicating that apoptotic cell death is involved in the toxicity of crocin and safranal. Apoptotic effects of crocin and safranal in tumor cells were more than normal cells. Neither crocin nor safranal affected the cell cycle progression. Crocin and safranal exerted apoptotic effects in KB cell line.

Saffron and Its Major Ingredients’ Effect on Colon Cancer Cells with Mismatch Repair Deficiency and Microsatellite Instability

“…On treatment with safranal and crocin, the cells exhibited a dose-dependent cell viability inhibition pattern, similar to saffron (Figures 3 and 4). Safranal and crocin dose ranges in our study are close to the effective doses published for other cancers [9,18,19]. Malaekeh-Nikouei et al have reported safranal's effective dose range to be much higher for other cells suggesting that HCT116 cells have a higher susceptibility [20].…”

An In Vitro Study of Saffron Carotenoids: The Effect of Crocin Extracts and Dimethylcrocetin on Cancer Cell Lines

“…Hence, gene expression was examined for BAX ( Figure 6 A), BID ( Figure 6 B), BCL2 ( Figure 6 C), MYCN ( Figure 6 D), SOD1 ( Figure 6 E) and GSTM1 ( Figure 6 F) when cells were treated with 1 mg/mL CRCs and DMCRT. Although it is well established that exposure of cancer cells to concentrations of saffron or its compounds up to 16 mg/mL are related to apoptotic cell death and not necrosis, via alterations in the expression of relevant apoptotic genes, the dose treatment of 1 mg/mL was selected, based on the significant cytotoxic effects observed on both cell lines, without however complete cellular abolishment or exceeding the IC 50 concentration for 48 and 72 h [ 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 ].…”

The role of Safranal and saffron stigma extracts in oxidative stress, diseases and photoaging: A systematic review

“…Antioxidant effect of Safranal has been proposed as a possible mechanism for its anticancer activity. Cytotoxic activities of different safranal concentrations (0.2–3.2 mM) were tested on oral squamous cell carcinoma (KB) and NIH 3T3 as nonmalignant cell lines using MTT assay ( Jabini et al., 2017 ). This study demonstrated that safranal has >50% cytotoxicity on KB cells at 0.2 mM while showed <50% cytotoxic activity on normal cells (NIH 3T3 cells) at the same concentration after 72 hrs.…”