Cytogenetic behaviour of crocin on cultured lymphocytes from leukemic patients

Crocin is isolated from saffron, an important spice rich in carotenoids obtained from the stigmas of Crocus sativus L, commonly consumed all around the world and used as a medical drug to treat numerous diseases. In the present work a comparative study of the cytogenetic behaviour of crocin between cultured lymphocytes from chronic lymphocytic leukemic patients as well as from healthy individuals was undertaken in order to test the hypothesis that the sister chromatid exchange assay in vitro can be used for the prediction of the in vivo tumor response to the potential chemotherapeutic action of crocin. Sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) and proliferation rate index (PRI) were evaluated in cultured lymphocytes from peripheral blood of all donors. Results showed that all tested crocin solutions didn’t cause remarkable changes to the PRI values of lymphocytes neither of the leukemic patients, nor of healthy individual. Contrariwise, after crocin affection a statistically significant decrease of the SCEs frequency of lymphocytes of leukemic patients had been observed (p<0,001, t-test) whereas the SCEs of the healthy donor’s cells presented slight, but not statistically significant increase. Our results indicate that crocin did not prove to be cytostatic in the tested concentrations, but it mainly reduced significantly the DNA damages along with being demonstrated as cytoprotectiv

Synthesis, Characterization and Antileucemic Activity of 7-Hydroxy-8-acetylcoumarin Benzoylhydrazone

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Saffron as a Source of Novel Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors: Molecular Docking and in Vitro Enzymatic Studies

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 disease. Saffron extract showed moderate AChE inhibitory activity (up to 30%), but IC₅₀ values of crocetin, dimethylcrocetin, and safranal were 96.33, 107.1, and 21.09 μM, respectively. Kinetic analysis showed mixed-type inhibition, which was verified by in silico docking studies. Safranal interacts only with the binding site of the AChE, but crocetin and dimethylcrocetin bind simultaneously to the catalytic and peripheral anionic sites. These results reinforce previous findings about the beneficial action of saffron against Alzheimer’s disease and may be of value for the development of novel therapeutic agents based on carotenoid-based dual binding inhibitors