Crocus sativus Petal Fraction Reduces Pain Behaviour and Oxidative Stress in a Murine Bone-Tumour Model
Keywords:
Crocus sativus, cancer pain, oxidative stress, analgesia, inflammation, murine modelAbstract
Background: Cancer-related bone pain is driven by inflammatory mediators, tissue injury and oxidative stress, while plant-derived fractions may provide multi-mechanistic analgesic activity.
Objective: To test whether a de-oiled saffron-petal fraction attenuates nociception and oxidative stress in a murine model of bone tumour pain.
Methods: Sixty mice were allocated to sham, tumour-control, low-dose extract, high-dose extract or positive-control groups. Treatment was administered once daily for 14 days after behavioural pain criteria were established. Mechanical allodynia, thermal withdrawal, spontaneous guarding, serum inflammatory mediators and spinal oxidative-stress markers were assessed by investigators blinded to allocation.
Results: High-dose saffron fraction increased mechanical withdrawal thresholds by 46% relative to tumour controls at day 14 and reduced spontaneous guarding scores by 38%. Thermal latency improved from 5.8±1.1 s in tumour controls to 8.4±1.3 s in the high-dose group. TNF-α and IL-6 concentrations were reduced by 31% and 27%, respectively, while spinal malondialdehyde decreased and superoxide-dismutase activity increased. The low-dose group showed smaller but directionally consistent effects. No treatment-related weight loss, behavioural toxicity or gross organ abnormalities were observed. Exploratory tumour-volume measurements did not differ significantly between treated and control animals, suggesting the analgesic effect was not explained by reduced tumour burden.
Conclusion: The saffron-petal fraction produced meaningful antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects in this model without obvious short-term toxicity. These data support fraction characterisation, dose-ranging and mechanistic studies before any consideration of clinical translation.
Publication format: research abstract. No full-text manuscript accompanies this record.
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