Zununi Vahed Sepideh, Zuluaga Tamayo Marisol, Rodriguez-Ruiz Violeta, Thibaudeau Olivier, Aboulhassanzadeh Sobhan, Abdolalizadeh Jalal, Meddahi-Pellé Anne, Gueguen Virginie, Barzegari Abolfazl, Pavon-Djavid Graciela
Kidney Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz 5165665811, Iran.
Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, INSERM U1148, Laboratory for Vascular Translational Science, Nanotechnologies for Vascular Medicine and Imaging, 99 Av. Jean-Baptiste Clément, 93430 Villetaneuse, France.
Pharmaceutics. 2024 Jun 21;16(7):840. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics16070840.
It was previously reported that crocin, a water-soluble carotenoid isolated from the L. (saffron), has protective effects on cardiac cells and may neutralize and even prevent the formation of excess number of free radicals; however, functional mechanisms of crocin activity have been poorly understood. In the present research, we aimed to study the functional mechanism of crocin in the heart exposed to oxidative stress. Accordingly, oxidative stress was modeled in vitro on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and in vivo in mice using cellular stressors. The beneficial effects of crocin were investigated at cellular and molecular levels in HUVECs and mice hearts. Results indicated that oral administration of crocin could have protective effects on HUVECs. In addition, it protects cardiac cells and significantly inhibits inflammation via modulating molecular signaling pathways TLR4/PTEN/AKT/mTOR/NF-κB and microRNA (miR-21). Here we show that crocin not only acts as a direct free radical scavenger but also modifies the gene expression profiles of HUVECs and protects mice hearts with anti-inflammatory action under oxidative stress.
此前有报道称，从番红花中分离出的水溶性类胡萝卜素藏红花素对心脏细胞具有保护作用，可能会中和甚至防止过量自由基的形成；然而，藏红花素活性的功能机制尚不清楚。在本研究中，我们旨在研究藏红花素在暴露于氧化应激的心脏中的功能机制。因此，使用细胞应激源在体外对人脐静脉内皮细胞（HUVECs）和体内对小鼠进行氧化应激建模。在HUVECs和小鼠心脏的细胞和分子水平上研究了藏红花素的有益作用。结果表明，口服藏红花素对HUVECs具有保护作用。此外，它通过调节分子信号通路TLR4/PTEN/AKT/mTOR/NF-κB和微小RNA（miR-21）来保护心脏细胞并显著抑制炎症。我们在此表明，藏红花素不仅作为直接的自由基清除剂发挥作用，还能改变HUVECs的基因表达谱，并在氧化应激下通过抗炎作用保护小鼠心脏。
