in recent years the use of organic and biological modifier as an environmental friendly replacement for chemical fertilizers has been used more. in order to study the effect of different levels of biological fertilizers and mushroom compost on flower yield and characteristics of saffron corms (crocus sativus l.), a split plot experiment based on rcbd design with three replications was conducted...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate herbal medicines, other than St. John's wort, in the treatment of depression. DATA SOURCES/SEARCH METHODS: A computer-based search of Medline, Cinahl, AMED, ALT Health Watch, Psych Articles, Psych Info, Current Contents databases, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, was performed. Researchers were contacted, and bibliographies ...

BACKGROUND Several studies have supported the antidepressant effects of curcumin (from the spice turmeric) and saffron for people with major depressive disorder. However, these studies have been hampered by poor designs, small sample sizes, short treatment duration, and similar intervention dosages. Furthermore, the antidepressant effects of combined curcumin and saffron administration are unkn...

OBJECTIVES We have investigated the effect of a saffron supplement, given at a dose of 100 mg/kg, on prooxidant-antioxidant balance (PAB) in individuals with metabolic syndrome. MATERIALS AND METHODS A randomized, placebo-controlled trial design was used in 75 subjects with metabolic syndrome who were randomly allocated to one of two study groups: (1) the case group received 100mg/kg saffron ...

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BACKGROUND Saffron extract, a natural product, has been shown to induce apoptosis in several tumor cell lines. Nevertheless, the p53-dependency of saffron's mechanism of action in colon cancer remains unexplored. MATERIAL AND METHODS In order to examine saffron's anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects in colorectal cancer cells, we treated two p53 isogenic HCT116 cell lines (HCT wildtyp...

An NMR analytical protocol is proposed to characterize saffron samples of different geographical origin (Greece, Spain, Hungary, Turkey and Italy). A microwave-assisted extraction procedure was developed to obtain a comparable recovery of metabolites with respect to the ISO specifications, reducing the solvent volume and the extraction time needed. Metabolite profiles of geographically differen...

Tissue culture is useful method for large scale production of healthy corms and also avenues for creating variability through in vitro use of mutagens and polyploidizing agents. Induction of callus and subsequent regeneration of plants is suggested as possible means of introducing new variation. In vitro micropopagation for product formation its utility is increasing the amount of crocin, picro...

Crocins, the glucosides of crocetin, are present at high concentrations in saffron stigmas and accumulate in the vacuole. However, the biogenesis of the saffron chromoplast, the changes during the development of the stigma and the transport of crocins to the vacuole, are processes that remain poorly understood. We studied the process of chromoplast differentiation in saffron throughout stigma d...