Anti-oxidative effects of safranal on immobilization-induced oxidative damage in rat brain

Safranal, a major constituent of saffron, possesses antioxidant and anti-apoptotic properties showing considerable neuroprotective effects. The present study was designed to investigate the effects of safranal against restraint stress induced oxidative damage in the rat brain. For inducing the chronic restraint stress, rats were kept in the restrainers for 1 h every day, for 21 consecutive days, then, the animals received systemic administrations of vehicle (0.1% DMSO) acted as the control group or safranal daily for 21 days. Results indicated that the rats submitted to restraint stress showed an increase in the immobility time versus the non-stress rats. In addition, stress decreased number of crossing in the rats submitted to restraint stress versus the non-stress animals. Treatment with safranal (0.75 mg/kg) showed a significant reduction in the immobility time compared to the non-treated stress group, while, the treatment improved the number of crossing in rats submitted to restraint stress versus the vehicle-treated stress rats. In the stressed animals that received vehicle, the MDA level was significantly higher and the levels of GSH and antioxidant enzymes were significantly lower than the non-stressed rats. Safranal ameliorated the changes in the stressed animals as compared with the control groups. The present findings indicate that safranal might be effective against depressant-like effects induced by chronic stress via modulating brain oxidative response.