title: Safranal as a safe compound to mice immune system.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present study was to investigate immunotoxic effect of safranal (SAF), a main component of Crocus sativus essential oil, using Balb/c mice.
  
  
  METHODS
  SAF was administered intraperitoneally at doses of 0.1, 0.5 and 1 ml/kg for 3 weeks. Hystopathological examination of spleen and bone marrow, cellularity of spleen, delayed type of hypersensitivity (DTH) response, hemagglutination titer (HA), cytokine production and lymphocyte proliferation assay were studied in various groups of animals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Spleen cellularity for SAF groups (0.1 ml/kg SAF: 6.68 [± 0.88] × 10(7), 0.5 ml/kg SAF: 8.16 [± 1.33] × 10(7), 1 ml/kg SAF: 6.12 [± 0.59] × 10(7)) did not significantly differ as compared to vehicle control (8.52 [± 1.36] × 10(7); p > 0.05). In addition, SAF at all doses could not produce any signiﬁcant changes in hematological parameters, HA titer, DTH and lymphoproliferation responses, as well as in release of cytokines by isolated splenocytes (p > 0.05). Despite a few studies demonstrating some immunomodulatory effects for saffron extract, SAF as a major constituent of saffron did not induce any marked effects in immune system parameters of mice.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Contrary to the toxicological studies which have indicated that SAF is more toxic than other active constituents in saffron stigma, at least it was found to be safe to mice immune system and has no toxicity on humoral and cellular immune responses.
authors.affiliation: Medical Toxicology Research Center, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Bamdad
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Riahi-Zanjani
authors.affiliation: Medical Toxicology Research Center, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Balali-Mood
authors.affiliation: Medical Toxicology Research Center and Pharmacy School, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Elaheh
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mohammadi
authors.affiliation: Medical Toxicology Research Center and Pharmacy School, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Badie-Bostan
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research Center, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Bahram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Memar
authors.affiliation: Medical Toxicology Research Center and Pharmacy School, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Gholamreza
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Karimi
keywords: Cellular immunity; Humoral immunity; Immunotoxic effect; Safranal