the hydroalcoholic extract of saffron protects pc12 cells against aluminum-induced cell death and oxidative stress in vitro

Background: aluminum (al) exposure is among theenvironmental risk factors that may involve in the pathogenesisof neurodegenerative diseases. oxidative stress has a critical rolein the al-induced toxicity. saffron is a plant with potent radicalscavenging and anti-oxidative properties. this investigation wasdesigned to evaluate the possible protective effects of saffronextract (se) on aluminum maltolate (almal)-induced oxidativestress and apoptosis in pc12 cell line.methods: in this in vitro study, pc12 cells were divided intofour groups including control, almal (500 μm), almal+se (50μg/ml), and almal+se (100 μg/ml). after 48 hours of treatmentwith almal in the absence and presence of se, cell viability andapoptosis were determined using mtt (3-[4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay and annexin vflow cytometry, respectively. catalase activity was determined asan index of oxidative stress. statistical analyses were performedusing one-way anova (spss version 16.0). p<0.05 wasaccepted as a statistically significant difference between groups.results: almal decreased the pc12 cells viability dosedependently(ic50=500μm). co-treatment of 50 and 100 μg/ml ofse with 500 μm of al increased cell viability to 79% (p=0.04) and86% (p=0.02) of the control group, respectively. al also increasedpc12 cells apoptosis and catalase activity to 37 and 2.7 folds ofthose of the control group (p<0.001 and 0.001=respectively).100 μg/ml of se blunted the effects of al on the increased cellapoptosis (p=0.02) and changes in the catalase activity (p=0.003).conclusion: se has protective effects against al-inducedapoptosis and oxidative stress and may possess therapeuticvalues in the treatment of al-neurotoxicity.