Protective Effect of Saffron Extract and Crocin on Reactive Oxygen Species-Mediated High Glucose-Induced Toxicity in PC12 Cells

Abstract

Diabetic neuropathy is one of the most frequent complications of diabetes. Despite some studies, the exact mechanism of glucose neurotoxicity has not been fully elucidated. Increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) has proposed as a possible mechanism. Crocus sativus L. (saffron) has been known as a source of antioxidants. Therefore, neuroprotective effect of saffron extract, its active component crocin and gamma-glutamylcysteinylglycine (GSH) was studied in glucose-induced neurotoxicity, using PC12 cells as a suitable in vitro model of diabetic neuropathy. Cell viability was quantitated by MTT assay. ROS was measured using DCF-DA by flow cytometry analysis. The result showed that glucose (13.5 and 27 mg/ml) reduced the cell viability of PC12 cells after 4 days. Saffron extract (5 and 25 mg/ml), crocin (10 and 50 muM) and GSH (10 muM) could decrease this toxicity. Glucose toxicity was consistent with increased ROS production which reduced by saffron, crocin and GSH pretreatment. These results suggest saffron and its carotenoid crocin could be potentially useful in diabetic neuropathy treatment.

Crocin and Quercetin protect HCT116 and HEK293 cells from Zearalenone-induced apoptosis by reducing endoplasmic reticulum stress

“…Crocin, a major carotenoid of saffron, exhibits high antioxidant and scavenging properties in vitro and in vivo (Ochiai et al 2004a(Ochiai et al , b, 2007Hosseinzadeh et al 2009Hosseinzadeh et al , 2010Mousavi et al 2010). For instance, Crocin has been shown to attenuate lipid peroxidation in kidney (Hosseinzadeh et al 2005) and skeletal muscle (Hosseinzadeh et al 2009) during ischemia-reperfusion-induced oxidative damage in rats and to promote cell viability in PC12 cells (Mousavi et al 2010). Our results indicate that, as effective free-radical scavengers and antioxidants, Quercetin and Crocin reduce ZEN toxicity in HCT116 and HEK293 cells.…”

“…The high antioxidant capacity of Crocin has been reported in vitro and in vivo (Ochiai et al 2004a(Ochiai et al , b, 2007Hosseinzadeh et al 2009Hosseinzadeh et al , 2010Mousavi et al 2010). For example, Crocin can decrease lipid peroxidation in kidney (Hosseinzadeh et al 2005) and skeletal muscle (Hosseinzadeh et al 2009) during ischemiareperfusion-induced oxidative damage in rats.…”

Neuroprotective Effects of Crocin against Oxidative Stress Induced by Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Rat Retina

“…A series of studies demonstrated that crocin can diminish the extent of MDA generation [35], reduce intracellular ROS production [36] and increase SOD and GSH peroxidase enzyme activity [37,38]. Moreover, in an vivo study, El-Beshbishy et al [39] found that pretreatment with crocin (200 mg/kg i.p.)…”

Saffron: a natural product with potential pharmaceutical applications

“…[85] Assimopoulou et al [80] found methanolic crocin solution from C. sativus L. to have high radical scavenging activity, whereas Soeda et al, [9] suggested a Glutamate Dehydrogenase, GDH-dependent mechanism for crocin protective effect against stressinduced cell death. Mousavi et al [86] reported reduced ROS production in glucose-induced neurotoxicity in PC12 cells pretreated with 10-50 μμ of crocin. The latter yield confirms the previous results of Ordoudi et al [87] who reported that saffron extract is equally efficient to phenolic antioxidants in reduction of intracellular ROS production in human monocyte system.…”