Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Louisville, Kentucky, KY 40202, USA.
Department of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy.
Molecules. 2023 Feb 10;28(4):1699. doi: 10.3390/molecules28041699.
Saffron treatment is a broad-spectrum therapy used for several retinal diseases, and its effectiveness depends on a particular molecular composition (REPRON saffron). Its production requires specific crops and procedures that, together with low yields, make this spice expensive. To reduce costs, the use of hydroponic crops is gradually increasing. In this study, we tested the protective properties of a hydroponic saffron (sH) batch in models of retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) degeneration. ARPE-19 cells were pretreated with 40 µg/mL saffron and exposed to different types of damage: excess light and retinol (LE + RET) or oxidative stress (HO). After analyzing the composition of all saffron types with spectroscopy, we performed cell viability and immunofluorescence analysis for both protocols. We compared the sH results with those of a validated batch of saffron REPRON (sR) and those of a saffron non-REPRON (sNR) batch. sH and sR, which we found had the same chemical composition, were more effective than sNR in increasing cell survival and attenuating the morphological changes related to apoptosis. In conclusion, hydroponic culturing is a suitable strategy to produce high-quality saffron to reduce costs and increase the accessibility of this promising treatment for retinal degeneration.
藏红花治疗是一种用于多种视网膜疾病的广谱疗法,其疗效取决于特定的分子组成(REPRON 藏红花)。其生产需要特定的作物和程序,再加上产量低,使得这种香料价格昂贵。为了降低成本,水培作物的使用正在逐渐增加。在这项研究中,我们测试了水培藏红花(sH)批次在视网膜色素上皮(RPE)变性模型中的保护特性。ARPE-19 细胞用 40µg/mL 的藏红花预处理,然后暴露于不同类型的损伤:过量的光和视黄醇(LE+RET)或氧化应激(HO)。在用光谱法分析所有藏红花类型的组成后,我们对两种方案进行了细胞活力和免疫荧光分析。我们将 sH 的结果与经过验证的 REPRON 藏红花批次(sR)和非 REPRON 藏红花批次(sNR)的结果进行了比较。我们发现,具有相同化学成分的 sH 和 sR 比 sNR 更有效地提高细胞存活率,并减轻与细胞凋亡相关的形态变化。总之,水培培养是一种生产高质量藏红花的合适策略,可以降低成本,增加这种有前途的视网膜变性治疗方法的可及性。