Safety evaluation of saffron extracts in early and established atherosclerotic New Zealand white rabbits

Previous research has shown that natural medications pose health risks, especially in subjects with comorbidities. This study aimed to evaluate the safety of saffron ethanolic extract (SEE) administration in early and established atherosclerotic rabbits. Rabbits were given a high-cholesterol diet (H...

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Published in:PloS one
Main Author: Abd Rahim I.N.; Mohd Kasim N.A.; Omar E.; Abdul Muid S.; Nawawi H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2024
Online Access:https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85182101675&doi=10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0295212&partnerID=40&md5=163ba4f4573e7045147d6418ace673aa
id 2-s2.0-85182101675
spelling 2-s2.0-85182101675
Abd Rahim I.N.; Mohd Kasim N.A.; Omar E.; Abdul Muid S.; Nawawi H.
Safety evaluation of saffron extracts in early and established atherosclerotic New Zealand white rabbits
2024
PloS one
19
1
10.1371/journal.pone.0295212
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85182101675&doi=10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0295212&partnerID=40&md5=163ba4f4573e7045147d6418ace673aa
Previous research has shown that natural medications pose health risks, especially in subjects with comorbidities. This study aimed to evaluate the safety of saffron ethanolic extract (SEE) administration in early and established atherosclerotic rabbits. Rabbits were given a high-cholesterol diet (HCD) for 4 and 8 weeks to induce early and established atherosclerosis respectively, and then they were treated with 50 and 100 mg/kg/day SEE. The body weight of the animals was recorded. Blood samples were collected at baseline, pre-treatment, and post-treatment for hematological studies, lipid profiles, and biochemical profiles. Tissue specimens of the vital organs were subjected to histological examination. The above parameters were significantly altered post-intervention with 4 and 8 weeks of HCD. No significant differences in body weight were observed in all the groups post-treatment with 50 and 100mg/kg of SEE compared to pre-treatment. However, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, serum urea, and glucose significantly decreased post-treatment with 50 and 100mg/kg/day SEE compared to pre-treatment in early and established atherosclerosis groups. Hematological parameters that were affected post-intervention with HCD returned to their baseline values post-treatment with 50 and 100mg/kg/day SEE. There was a significant improvement in the vital organs post-treatment with 50 and 100mg/kg SEE. SEE can safely be administered without causing harmful effects on the hematological, biochemical profiles, and vital organs. Notably, SEE exerts hypolipidemic and hypoglycemic effects on atherosclerotic conditions. Further clinical trials are warranted to ensure the safety of saffron administration in patients with atherosclerosis-related diseases. Copyright: © 2024 Abd Rahim et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

19326203
English
Article
All Open Access; Gold Open Access
author Abd Rahim I.N.; Mohd Kasim N.A.; Omar E.; Abdul Muid S.; Nawawi H.
spellingShingle Abd Rahim I.N.; Mohd Kasim N.A.; Omar E.; Abdul Muid S.; Nawawi H.
Safety evaluation of saffron extracts in early and established atherosclerotic New Zealand white rabbits
author_facet Abd Rahim I.N.; Mohd Kasim N.A.; Omar E.; Abdul Muid S.; Nawawi H.
author_sort Abd Rahim I.N.; Mohd Kasim N.A.; Omar E.; Abdul Muid S.; Nawawi H.
title Safety evaluation of saffron extracts in early and established atherosclerotic New Zealand white rabbits
title_short Safety evaluation of saffron extracts in early and established atherosclerotic New Zealand white rabbits
title_full Safety evaluation of saffron extracts in early and established atherosclerotic New Zealand white rabbits
title_fullStr Safety evaluation of saffron extracts in early and established atherosclerotic New Zealand white rabbits
title_full_unstemmed Safety evaluation of saffron extracts in early and established atherosclerotic New Zealand white rabbits
title_sort Safety evaluation of saffron extracts in early and established atherosclerotic New Zealand white rabbits
publishDate 2024
container_title PloS one
container_volume 19
container_issue 1
doi_str_mv 10.1371/journal.pone.0295212
url https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85182101675&doi=10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0295212&partnerID=40&md5=163ba4f4573e7045147d6418ace673aa
description Previous research has shown that natural medications pose health risks, especially in subjects with comorbidities. This study aimed to evaluate the safety of saffron ethanolic extract (SEE) administration in early and established atherosclerotic rabbits. Rabbits were given a high-cholesterol diet (HCD) for 4 and 8 weeks to induce early and established atherosclerosis respectively, and then they were treated with 50 and 100 mg/kg/day SEE. The body weight of the animals was recorded. Blood samples were collected at baseline, pre-treatment, and post-treatment for hematological studies, lipid profiles, and biochemical profiles. Tissue specimens of the vital organs were subjected to histological examination. The above parameters were significantly altered post-intervention with 4 and 8 weeks of HCD. No significant differences in body weight were observed in all the groups post-treatment with 50 and 100mg/kg of SEE compared to pre-treatment. However, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, serum urea, and glucose significantly decreased post-treatment with 50 and 100mg/kg/day SEE compared to pre-treatment in early and established atherosclerosis groups. Hematological parameters that were affected post-intervention with HCD returned to their baseline values post-treatment with 50 and 100mg/kg/day SEE. There was a significant improvement in the vital organs post-treatment with 50 and 100mg/kg SEE. SEE can safely be administered without causing harmful effects on the hematological, biochemical profiles, and vital organs. Notably, SEE exerts hypolipidemic and hypoglycemic effects on atherosclerotic conditions. Further clinical trials are warranted to ensure the safety of saffron administration in patients with atherosclerosis-related diseases. Copyright: © 2024 Abd Rahim et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
publisher
issn 19326203
language English
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