Saffron bioactives crocin, crocetin and safranal: effect on oxidative stress and mechanisms of action by Cerdá-Bernad Débora & Valero-Cases Estefanía & Pastor Joaquín-Julián & Frutos María José instant download

Saffron bioactives crocin, crocetin and safranal: effect on oxidative stress and mechanisms of action by Cerdá-Bernad Débora & Valero-Cases Estefanía & Pastor Joaquín-Julián & Frutos María José instant download

ABSTRACTKEYWORDSSaffron (Crocus sativus L.) is used as a spice for its organoleptic characteristics related to its colorSaffron apocarotenoids;functional ingredients;ing and flavoring properties, and it has been also used in traditional medicine to treat various dissaffron supplementation;eases. The main chemical components responsible for these properties are crocin, crocetin andantioxidant activity;safranal. These compounds have been shown to have a wide spectrum of biological activities,nutrients; healthincluding several properties as antigenotoxic, antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antiatherosclerotic, antidiabetic, hypotensive, hypoglycemic, antihyperlipidemic, antidegenerative and antidepressant, among others. This review article highlights the antioxidant effects of these bioactivecompounds to reduce reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the mechanisms of action involved, sincethere are a multitude of diseases related to oxidative stress and the generation of free radicals(FRs). Recent studies have shown that the effects of crocin, crocetin and safranal against oxidativestress include the reduction in lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde [MDA] levels) and nitric oxide(NO) levels, and the increase in the levels of glutathione, antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase [SOD], catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase [GPx]) and thiol content. Therefore, due tothe great antioxidant effects of these saffron compounds, it makes saffron a potential source ofbioactive extracts for the development of bioactive ingredients, which can be used to producefunctional foods.Introduction(10%), fat (5%), minerals (5%), crude fiber (5%), andCrocus sativus L., commonly known as saffron, is a perenvitamins specially vitamin B1 (thiamine) and vitamin B2(riboflavin). Other important constituents of saffron are carnial herb which belongs to the Iridaceae family with moreotenoids, monoterpenes, anthocyanins and flavonoids (Riosthan 85 species. It is a traditional Mediterranean plant, andet al. 1996).it is widely cultivated in different areas, such as Iran, India,Traditionally, it has been also used in medicine to treatMorocco, Azerbaijan, Spain, Greece, Italy, Turkey andvarious diseases, since it is considered as a medicinal plantChina, among others (Karabagias et al. 2017). C. sativus L.in many cultures. The main chemical components responis a sterile low-rise plant developed and propagated bysible for these properties are apocarotenoids such as crocin,corms, a bulbous tuberous structure. The flower is comcrocetin and safranal considered as bioactive compoundsposed of six purple tepals, three golden yellow stamens and(Melnyk, Wang, and Marcone 2010). These compoundsone red pistil, which culminates with three red branchedhave been shown to have a wide spectrum of biologicalstigmas (filaments) that when dried up give the spice saffronactivities, including several properties as antigenotoxic, anti(Lotfi et al. 2015; Mathew 1977) (Figure 1). Therefore, onlytumor (Festuccia et al. 2014), anticancer (Abdullaev andthat part of the saffron flower is used to obtain the spice. ItEspinosa-Aguirre 2004), antioxidant (Ghadrdoost et al. 2011;is the most expensive spice in the world because of its proKarimi et al. 2010; Verma and Bordia 1998), anti-inflammaduction costs, since to produce 1 kg of saffron are necessarytory (Amin and Hosseinzadeh 2012), antidiabetic (Shengaround 230.000 flowers (350 kg of tepals) (Kafi et al. 2006).et al. 2008), antiatherosclerotic (He et al. 2005), hypotensive,Saffron is mainly used in agro-food and cosmetic indushypoglycemic, antihyperlipidemic (Lee et al. 2005), antitries due to its organoleptic characteristics related to its coldepressant (Schmidt, Betti, and Hensel 2007) and antidegeoring and flavoring properties, and it has been used fornerative (Soeda et al. 2016), among others.centuries as part of a healthy Mediterranean diet. The chemOne of the greatest interests of saffron bioactive comical composition of saffron consists mostly on carbohydratespounds is their impact on the human health due to their