Prenatal developmental toxicity of crocus sativus (saffron) in wistar rats

  • Authors

    • Ramesh Edamula Toxicologist
    • M Deecaraman Dr.M.G.R Educational and Research Institute, IBT, Maduravoyal Chennai - 95
    • Dharmapura Santhosh Kumar Toxicologist
    • Heggnahalli Krishnamurthy Toxicologist
    • Madaigowda Latha Toxicologist
    2014-07-15
    https://doi.org/10.14419/ijpt.v2i2.3035
  • The prenatal developmental toxicity of Crocus sativus (saffron) was evaluated in a mammalian species taking Wistar rat as the model. Saffron administered as an oral gavage from Day 5 of gestation (day of implantation) until Day 19 of gestation at the doses of 50, 250 and 1000 mg/kg/day did not elicit  any effects on maternal body weight gains, food intake, gravid uterine weight, corpora lutea and implantation counts, pre and post implantation loss, litter size, weight and length. No abnormalities in the fetuses were noticed when subjected to external, soft tissue and skeletal examinations. The results obtained conclude that saffron did not induce maternal toxicity and structural and / or other abnormalities in the fetus and hence saffron is considered to have no teratogenic potential.

    Keywords: Abnormalities, Fetus, Litter, Saffron, Skeletal.

  • References

    1. Vijaya Bhargava K (2011) Medicinal Uses and Pharmacological Properties of Crocus sativus linn (Saffron). International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences 3 (3), 22 – 26.
    2. Hossein HosseinZadeh, Saied Sadeghi Shakib, Abbas Khadem Sameni & Elahe Taghiabad (2013) Acute and Subacute Toxicity of Safranal, a constituent of saffron, in mice and rats. Iranian Journal of Pharmaceutical Research 12(1), 93 – 99.
    3. Martin G, Goh E and Neff AW (2002) Evaluation of the Developmental Toxicity of Crocetin on Xenopus. Food and Chemical Toxicology 40, 959 – 964. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0278-6915 (02)00040-6.
    4. Staples RE (1974) Detection of Visceral Alterations in Mammalian Fetuses. Teratology 9(3), A37 – A38.
    5. Staples RE and Schnell VL (1964) Refinements in Rapid Clearing Technic in the KOH – Alizarin Red S Method for Fetal Bone. Stain Technology 39, 61 – 63.
    6. Rochelle W Tyl and Melissa C Marr (2006) Developmental Toxicity Testing – Methodology. Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology (Ronald D. Hood ed.), CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group pp. 201 – 256.
    7. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guideline for the Testing of Chemical, No. 414, Prenatal Developmental Toxicity study, January 22, 2001.
    8. International Conference on Harmonization (ICH), S5 (R2) Guideline for Industry – Detection of Toxicity to Reproduction for Medicinal products, Study for effects on Embryo-Fetal Development, 4.1.3, November 2005.
  • Downloads

  • How to Cite

    Edamula, R., Deecaraman, M., Santhosh Kumar, D., Krishnamurthy, H., & Latha, M. (2014). Prenatal developmental toxicity of crocus sativus (saffron) in wistar rats. International Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, 2(2), 46-49. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijpt.v2i2.3035