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Review
. 2017 Feb;20(2):110-121.
doi: 10.22038/ijbms.2017.8230.

Toxicology effects of saffron and its constituents: a review

Hasan Badie Bostan  1 , Soghra Mehri  2 , Hossein Hosseinzadeh  3
Affiliations
Review

Toxicology effects of saffron and its constituents: a review

Hasan Badie Bostan et al. Iran J Basic Med Sci. 2017 Feb.

Abstract

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) has been considered as a medicinal plant since ancient times and also widely used as food additive for its color, taste and odor. The pharmacological properties of saffron and its main constituents, crocin and safranal have been evaluated using different in vivo and in vitro models. Additionally, other lines of studies have found toxicological effects of saffron. However, a comprehensive review that covers all aspects of its toxicity has not been published yet. The current study provides classified information about the toxic effects of saffron and its constituents in various exposure conditions including acute, sub-acute, sub-chronic and chronic studies. Therapeutic doses of saffron exhibits no significant toxicity in both clinical and experimental investigations.

Keywords: Crocetin; Crocin; Saffron; Safranal; Toxicity.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structures of safranal, crocin, picrocrocin and crocetin
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic of toxic effects of saffron, crocin, safranal and crocetin in different animal toxicity test
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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