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Background: A
growing body of research has confirmed that saffron stigma extract and its
main constituents have anticancer properties.
Objective: The aim
of the present study was to evaluate the possible cytotoxic and antitumor
activities of the ethanolic extracts of
Crocus sativus stigma and petal
using simple brine
shrimp and potato disc assays.
Method: The MIC of
stigma and petal extracts were determined using microplate method.
In brine shrimp assay, for each concentration, three wells
containing 10 larva were tested.
After 24h, the number of dead larva were counted. In potato disc
assay, discs were cut of
potato with specific diameter and transferred onto 1.5% agar
under a laminar air cabinet. 50
μl of a mixture
containing suspension of
Agrobacterium tumefaciens and the solution of stigma
and petal extracts were inoculated on potato discs in plates.
The plates were incubated at 25
°C for 21 days,
and the tumors were counted.
Results: The MIC of
stigma extract was 10 mg/ml. The Petal extract did not show any antibacterial
activity in the of concentration range 1-16 mg/ml. The IC50
values of stigma and
petal extracts against tumor were 5.3 and 10.8 mg/ml,
respectively. The LC50 values of
stigma and petal extracts against brine shrimp were 1678.7 and
1356.8 ppm, respectively.
Conclusion: This
study indicated that the ethanolic extracts of saffron stigma and petal
have anti-tumor activity and the stigma extract has more potent
anti-tumor efects than the
petal extract but with less toxicity.