Antioxidant effects of lebanese Crocus sativus L. and its main components, crocin and safranal, on human skeletal muscle cells

Introduction: Crocus sativus L. (C. sativus L.) has gained interest as a potential source of pharmacologically bioactive compounds and is believed to possess antioxidant properties. This study used human myoblast cells to evaluate the protective effects of C. sativus L . extracts, (crocin, and safranal) on hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced oxidative stress using human myoblast cells.Methods: HPLC was used to detect the presence of the active compounds safranal/crocin in the Lebanese C. sativus L . extracts. Their cellular antioxidant property was examined by trypan blue, cell adhesion, immunostaining and cell cycle assays. Transcriptional expression and activities of SOD1/2, GPX1, and catalase were also determined. The ability of C. sativus L. and its main components to modulate myogenic regulatory factors (MyoD, Myf5) was evaluated using RT-PCR assay.Results: The water/methanol (50:50, v/v) extract of C. sativus L. stigmas were found to contain safranal and crocin, with a high concentration of trans-crocin 3/4 in particular. In vitro , pretreatment (24 h) with safranal exhibited the lowest antioxidant effect whereas pretreatment with C. sativus L. extracts (0.3 mu g/ml) and more notably with crocin (0.3 mu M) attenuated the toxic impact of H2O2 (50 mu M, 24 h) and also restored the capacity of adhesion among LHCN-M2 cells. This protective effect was associated with both a reduction of intracellular reactive oxygen species generation and an up-regulation of antioxidant enzyme activities. Furthermore, crocin pretreatment significantly improved the transcriptional expression of myogenic regulatory genes.Conclusion: C. sativus L., particularly its main component crocin, was shown to have therapeutic potential against oxidative stress-associated skeletal muscle diseases.