Investigation of the effect of safranal and crocin pre-treatment on hepatic injury induced by infrarenal aortic occlusion

Ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury of the liver is an unresolved problem that occurs during certain surgical approaches, including hepatic, cardiac and aortic operations. In this study we aimed to investigate whether crocin and safranal had protective effects on liver IR injury induced in an infrarenal aortic clamping (IRAC) model. Male Wistar-Albino rats (n = 32) were divided into four groups with 8 animals each as follows: Sham, IR, IR + crocin, and IR + safranal. The infrarenal aorta (IRA) was clamped for 60 min for the ischemic period and allowed to reperfuse for 120 min. Blood and tissue samples were collected for biochemical, histological and immunohistological analysis. Plasma alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were found to be significantly higher in the IR group than the sham group (respectively; p = 0.015, p < 0.001). There were significant differences between the IR group and the IR + crocin group or the IR + safranal group in AST levels (respectively; p = 0.02, p < 0.001). ALT showed a significant decrease in the IR + crocin group compared to the IR group (p < 0.05). We also observed histopathological changes among the groups. Bax and Caspase-3 expression in the IR group was remarkably higher than in the other groups. Caspase-3 and Bax expression in the IR + crocin and the IR + safranal groups were significantly lower than in the IR group. Nevertheless, there were no significant differences in BCL2 expression among the groups. IRAC is a cause of IR injury in the liver. This study showed that crocin and safranal have protective effects on IR induced liver injury.