Therapeutic potential of active components of saffron in post-surgical adhesion band formation

Mohammad-Hassan Arjmand; Milad Hashemzehi; Atena Soleimani; Fereshteh Asgharzadeh; Amir Avan; Saeedeh Mehraban; Maryam Fakhraei; Gordon A Ferns; Mikhail Ryzhikov; Masoumeh Gharib; Roshanak Salari; Sayyed Hadi Sayyed Hoseinian; Mohammad Reza Parizadeh; Majid Khazaei; Seyed Mahdi Hassanian

doi:10.1016/j.jtcme.2021.01.002

Therapeutic potential of active components of saffron in post-surgical adhesion band formation

J Tradit Complement Med. 2021 Jan 20;11(4):328-335. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcme.2021.01.002. eCollection 2021 Jul.

Authors

Mohammad-Hassan Arjmand¹, Milad Hashemzehi², Atena Soleimani³, Fereshteh Asgharzadeh⁴, Amir Avan^{5

6}, Saeedeh Mehraban⁷, Maryam Fakhraei⁴, Gordon A Ferns⁸, Mikhail Ryzhikov⁹, Masoumeh Gharib¹⁰, Roshanak Salari¹¹, Sayyed Hadi Sayyed Hoseinian¹², Mohammad Reza Parizadeh³, Majid Khazaei^{4

5}, Seyed Mahdi Hassanian^{3

5}

Affiliations

¹ Medical Plants Research Center, Basic Health Sciences Institute, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran.
² Iranshahr University of Medical Sciences, Iranshahr, Iran.
³ Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
⁴ Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
⁵ Metabolic Syndrome Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
⁶ Student Research Committee and Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Science, Mashhad, Iran.
⁷ Immunology Research Center, Inflammation and Inflammatory Diseases Division, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
⁸ Brighton & Sussex Medical School, Division of Medical Education, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9PH, UK.
⁹ Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Washington University, School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
¹¹ Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Persian Medicine, School of Persian and Complementary Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
¹² Orthopedic Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

Abstract

Background: Abdominal adhesions are common and often develop after abdominal surgery. There are currently no useful targeted pharmacotherapies for adhesive disease. Saffron and its active constituents, Crocin and Crocetin, are wildly used in traditional medicine for alleviating the severity of inflammatory or malignant disease.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the therapeutic potential of the pharmacological active component of saffron in attenuating the formation of post-operative adhesion bands using different administration methods in a murine model.

Material method: saffron extract (100 mg/kg), Crocin (100 mg/kg), and Crocetin (100 mg/kg) were administered intraperitoneally and by gavage in various groups of male Wistar rat post-surgery. Also three groups were first treated intra-peritoneally by saffron extract, Crocin, and Crocetin (100 mg/kg) for 10 days and then had surgery. At the end of the experiments, animals sacrificed for biological assessment.

Result: A hydro-alcoholic extract of saffron and crocin but not crocetin potently reduced the adhesion band frequency in treatment and pre-treatment groups in the mice given intra-peritoneal (i.p) injections. Following the saffron or crocin administration, histological evaluation and quantitative analysis represented less inflammatory cell infiltration and less collagen composition, compared to control group. Moreover, the oxidative stress was significantly reduced in treatment groups.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that a hydro-alcoholic extract of saffron or its active compound, crocin, is a potentially novel therapeutic strategy for the prevention of adhesions formation and might be used as beneficial anti-inflammatory or anti-fibrosis agents in clinical trials.

Taxonomy: Abdominal surgeries/post-surgical adhesions.

Keywords: APC, activated protein C; Crocetin; Crocin; DSS, dextran sodium sulfate; Fibrosis; HE, Hematoxylin & Eosin; IP, intera-peritoneal; Inflammation; MDA, malondialdehyde; PDGF, platelet-derived growth factor; PSAB, post-surgical adhesion band; Post-surgical adhesion band formation; SOD, superoxidase dismutase; Saffron; TAA, thioacetamide; TGF-β, transforming growth factor-beta; α-SMA, α-smooth muscle actin.