May 2024 Webinar:

Sustainability of Crocus sativus L. Cultivation in the World in the Era of Climatic Change

16 – 17 MAY 2024

Register here: https://survey.metrofood.eu/index.php/129619

Organised by

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

School of Chemistry
Laboratory of Food Chemistry & Technology in the frame of the METROFOOD-EPI project

Contacts

Maria Tsimidou,
Professor Emerita, tsimidou@chem.auth.gr
Aggeliki Kalogeropoulou,
Researcher, aggelkal@chem.auth.gr

Ferdowsi University of Mashad, Iran

Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agrotechnology
&
Khorasan-Razavi Agriculture & Natural Resources Research and Education Center,
Mashhad, Iran

Contacts

Ali Reza Koocheki,
Professor akooch@um.ac.ir
Soroor Khorramdel,
Assoc. Professor khorramdel@um.ac.ir

Day 1

16 May 2024

15:30-19:30 (time zone Athens, Greece – GMT+3)

Opening of the platform

Introduction: Why we undertook the initiative to organize this series of webinars.
Professor M.Z.Tsimidou (Aristotle Univ. Thessaloniki, Greece) & Professor A.R. Koocheki (Ferdouwisi Univ. of Mashad, Iran)

Current status of Greek saffron cultivation – Krokos Kozanis PDO.
Vassilis Mitsopoulos, (Saffron grower and president at Cooperative de Safran, Krokos, Greece)

The dichotomy of a local culture in a global market: challenges of saffron cultivation in La Mancha.
Lecturer Héctor Martínez S-Mateos (University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain)

The peculiarities of saffron production in L’Aquila area (Italy).
Massimiliano D’Innocenzo (Saffron producer, President of the Consortium of Saffron of L’Aquila PDO, Italy)

Impact of climate change on saffron cultivation in Morocco.
Souκrat Sakina (agronomist, PhD, manager, SoukratSeeds sarl company, Rabat, Morocco)

Coffee break

An overview of saffron produced in Italy (recorded talk).
Lecturer Luca Giupponi (University of Milan)

The DNA and genomes of saffron crocus & opportunities for improvement of sustainability.
 Pat Heslop –Harisson (Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, UK)

Current status and prospect of the Cuenca Crocusbank.
Marcelino de los Mozos Pascual (Researcher and genebank curator at the Bank of Plant Germplasm – Regional Inst. of Agri-Food & Forestry Res. & Development Castilla-La Mancha Spain)

The Saffron Flower Production in Spain. Problems and perspectives.
Professor Rosa Victoria Molina Romero (University of Valencia), Agronomist & saffron expert Horacio López Córcoles & Llanos Simón (ITAP, (Instituto Técnico Agronómico Provincial. Diputación de Albacete, Spain)

Discussion among speakers and attendees & Concluding Remarks.
Conveners: Professors Maria Tsimidou & Alireza Koocheki

Day 2

17 May 2024

10:30-18:45
(time zone Athens, Greece – GMT+3)

Opening of the platform

Weather Impact and Constraint Analysis of Kashmir Saffron.
Firdous Ahmad Nehvi (Spice Board Ministry of Commerce, India)

Assessment of climate change and climate extremes on temporal and spatial changes of saffron yield.
Saeedeh Kouzegaran (Responsible expert in applied meteorological research in Research Institute of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, Climate Research Institute, Iran)

Mitigation of climate change effects on saffron using agricultural biotechnology.
Professor Amjad M. Husaini (Professor/Senior Scientist in Plant Biotechnology at SKUAST-Kashmir, J&K/India)

Effect of climate changes on saffron production in Herat, Afghanistan.
Associate Professor Ramin Nazarin (Agronomy Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Herat University, Afghanistan)

Biotic Stress of Saffron.
Associate Professor G.H.Mir (Advanced Research Station for Saffron & Seed Spices, University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology, India)

Promotion of saffron in India under changing climatic scenario.
Bashir Ahmad Alie (Advance Research Centre for Saffron & Seed Spices SKUAST-Kashmir, India)

The effect of climate change and the agro-ecological zoning on quality of saffron in Iran.
Associate Professor Soroor Khorramdel (Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran)

Climatic variability and its impact on crops with special reference to Kashmir region.
Sameera Qayoom (Division of Agro-meteorology, SKUAST-Kashmir, India)

Can changes in corm weight justify changes in saffron yield under different climatic conditions.
Associate Professor Hamid Reza Sharifi (Khorasan Razavi Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Mashhad, Iran)

Trends of the past and future impacts of climate change on saffron production in Iran.
Associate Professor Roohola Moradi (Department of Plant Productions, University of Torbat Heydarieh, Iran)

Studying physiological reactions of saffron under changes in climatic parameters.
Saffron expert Hashim Aslami, Lecturer and Researcher Alireza Nejadmohammad Namaghi (Director of the Department of Medicinal Plants of the Applied Scientific University, Afghanistan)

Can heat stress be mitigated in summer by using mulch and shading in saffron fields?
Hamidreza Tavakkoli-Kakhki (Speaker), Hamidreza Sharifi and Zohre Nabipour (Khorasan Razavi Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Iran)

Coffee break

The Saffron holobiome.
Sheetal Ambardar (School of Biotechnology, University of Jammu, India)

Synoptic analysis of sudden drop in air temperature and its effect on saffron yield in 2023.
Professor Seyed Hossein Sanaei Nejad, Researcher Khosro Salari (Speaker), Associate Professor Soroor Khorramdel (Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran)

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) production beyond Kashmir: Efforts and Challenges.
Rakesh Kumar (Institute CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, HP, India)

Evaluation of saffron yield using machine learning and remote sensing techniques in the face of climate change.
Assoc. Professor Soroor Khorramdel, Researcher Mehdi Mohammadnezhad (Speaker), Research Director of Water and Environment Research institute Pooya Shirazi (Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran)

The possibility of the effect of climate change on the growth and development of bacterial rot of saffron corms (Burkholderia gladioli).
Assistant Professor Plant Pathology Mahmoud Reza Karimi Shahri (Khorasan Razavi Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center (KANRRC) Plant Protection Research Dept. Mashhad, Iran)

Saffron- microbe interaction; identifying and managing friends and foes.
Jyoti Vakhlu (Researcher, School of Biotechnology, University of Jammu/India)

Planting in closed environment: A strategy for producing saffron under climate change and global warming.
Associate Professor S. Khorramdel, Researcher Mohammad Hassan Hatefi Farajian (Speaker) (Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran)

Discussion among speakers and attendees & Concluding Remarks.
Conveners: Professors Alireza Koocheki & Maria Tsimidou

The post May 2024 Webinar: Sustainability of Crocus sativus L. Cultivation in the World in the Era of Climatic Change appeared first on Krokos Kozanis.

Abstract

Background and aim:

The association of diabetes mellitus (DM) and poor metabolic control with high incidence of cardiovascular diseases is well established. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential cardioprotective effect of crocin (Crocus sativus L. extract) on diabetic heart dysfunction and to elucidate the mediating molecular mechanisms.

Methods and results:

Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats were treated with two different concentrations of crocin (10 or 20 mg/kg), while isolated cardiac myocytes exposed to 25 mM glucose, were treated with 1 or 10 μM of crocin. Treatment of STZ-diabetic rats with crocin resulted in normalization of plasma glucose levels, inhibition of cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis, and improvement of cardiac contractile function. Heat Shock Response was enhanced. Myocardial AMPK phosphorylation was increased after treatment with crocin, resulting in normalization of autophagy marker proteins (LC3BII/LC3BI ratio, SQSTM1/p62 and Beclin-1), while the diabetes-induced myocardial apoptosis was decreased. Similar results regarding the effect of crocin on autophagy and apoptosis pathways were obtained in isolated cardiac myocytes exposed to high concentration of glucose.

Conclusion:

The results suggest that crocin improves the deteriorated cardiac function in diabetic animals by enhancing the heat shock response, inhibiting apoptosis and normalizing autophagy in cardiac myocytes. Thus, treatment with crocin may represent a novel approach for treating diabetic cardiomyopathy.

Keywords:

Apoptosis; Autophagy; Cardiac function; Crocin; Diabetes; Heat shock response.

Copyright © 2018 The Italian Society of Diabetology, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition, and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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Treatment With Crocin Improves Cardiac Dysfunction by Normalizing Autophagy and Inhibiting Apoptosis in STZ-induced Diabetic Cardiomyopathy

The post Cardiac Dysfunction appeared first on Krokos Kozanis.

Abstract

Crocus sativus L., is a plant cultivated in many countries of the world.

Crocins are among the active constituents of C. sativus and their implication in cognition has been proposed.

The present study was designed to investigate in the rat the effects of crocins on distinct recognition memory components (encoding, storage and retrieval). Subsequently, the potential use of crocins as adjunctive agents for the treatment of memory disorders was examined.

Thus, the effects exerted by a combination of subthreshold doses of crocins and memantine on recognition memory were evaluated.

To assess the effects of compounds on memory, the novel object-recognition task (NORT) was used. In a preliminary study, the influence of the retention time (the delay between the two trials) on the performance of rats was assessed.

Rats’ recognition memory abilities remained intact up to 6 h, but were extinguished when a delay of 24 h was utilized. Crocins, at any dose tested (5, 15, and 30 mg/kg), did not affect rats’ performance, whereas administration of higher doses (15 and 30 mg/kg) reversed delay-dependent deficits in the NORT.

The combination of subthreshold doses of crocins (5 mg/kg) and memantine (3 mg/kg) did not influence the performance, but counteracted delay-dependent deficits in the NORT.

These findings suggest that crocins counteract natural forgetting and may modulate different aspects of recognition memory, and that the combined use of crocins and memantine might represent a novel strategy to treat memory disorders.

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Effects of the Active Constituents of Crocus Sativus L. Crocins and Their Combination With Memantine on Recognition Memory in Rats

The post Recognition Memory appeared first on Krokos Kozanis.

Abstract

In this study, the aphrodisiac activities of Crocus sativus stigma aqueous extract and its constituents, safranal and crocin, were evaluated in male rats.

The aqueous extract (80, 160 and 320mg/kg body wt.), crocin (100, 200 and 400mg/kg body wt.), safranal (0.1, 0.2 and 0.4ml/kg), sildenafil (60mg/kg body wt., as a positive control) and saline were administered intraperitoneally to male rats.

Mounting frequency (MF), intromission frequency (IF), erection frequency (EF), mount latency (ML), intromission latency (IL) and ejaculation latency (EL) were the factors evaluated during the sexual behavior study.

Crocin, at all doses, and the extract, especially at doses 160 and 320mg/kg body wt., increased MF, IF and EF behaviors and reduced EL, IL and ML parameters.

Safranal did not show aphrodisiac effects.

The present study reveals an aphrodisiac activity of saffron aqueous extract and its constituent crocin.

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The Effect of Saffron, Crocus Sativus Stigma, Extract and Its Constituents, Safranal and Crocin on Sexual Behaviors in Normal Male Rats

The post Sexual Behaviors appeared first on Krokos Kozanis.

Abstract

In current review is described in short the findings indicating that Crocus sativus exerts antithrombotic and antiatherosclerosis effect.

Summarily, these findings include the documented antioxidant activity of C. sativus on LDL oxidation leading to the initiation of atherosclerosis, its inhibitory effect on the expression of cell adhesion molecules and the adhesion of leucocytes to endothelial cells.

Additionally, C. sativus contributes in the inhibition of platelet aggregation, inhibiting coagulation factor Xa and COX-1 (in vitro and in silico studies). All these activities contribute to the inhibition of the progression of atherosclerosis.

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The Effect of Saffron (Crocus sativus) Carotenoids on Hemostasis and Atherosclerosis

The post Hemostasis and Atherosclerosis appeared first on Krokos Kozanis.

Abstract

A chromatographic method was developed and fully validated for the determination of the major saffron constituents, i.e., picrocrocin and five major crocins.

Dried samples (styles of Crocus sativus and other Crocus taxa) were extracted with MeOH : water (1 : 1, v/v), and chromatographic separation of the analytes was achieved by reversed-phase chromatography using a gradient elution.

Full validation was performed using spiked samples with analytes, which were isolated, purified, and characterized by MS due to a lack of commercial standards.

The method showed a good fit (r2 > 0.999) for all analytes with limit of quantitation values in the range of 1-15 µg/mL, and demonstrated adequate intra- and inter-precision (< 15 % RSD) and accuracy (< 7 % RE).

The method was applied to the analysis of various commercial saffron samples and of indigenous Crocus taxa and allowed for the first time the absolute quantitation of several Crocus components.

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Quantitation of Crocins and Picrocrocin in Saffron by HPLC: Application to Quality Control and Phytochemical Differentiation From Other Crocus Taxa

The post Phytochemical Differentiation appeared first on Krokos Kozanis.

Abstract

The stigmas of Crocus sativus L. have been used as spice and colorant agent (i.e. saffron) for more than 4000 years.

For an updated structural investigation of the aglycon present in the glycosylated crocetin apocarotenoids (i.e. crocins), seven representative derivatives ranging from one up to five glucosyl-residues with a maximum number of three monosaccharides per glycosylation site (glucose, gentiobiose, gentiotriose and neapolitanose) were isolated and purified by high-performance liquid chromatography.

The compounds selected for further mass spectrometric investigation include glucosyl-, bis-glucosyl-, gentiobiosyl-, gentiobiosyl-glucosyl-, bis-gentiobiosyl-, gentiobiosyl-gentiotriosyl- and gentiobiosyl-neapolitanosyl-crocetin.

Electrospray ionization in combination with low-energy collision-induced dissociation/tandem mass spectrometry of sodiated crocin precursor ions utilizing either a 3D-ion trap (MS(n) , n = 2, 3) or a QqTOF instrument, with the latter providing accurate mass determination with an accuracy of ±1-3 ppm or better at a resolution of 10,000 (full width at half maximum), was used.

Major fragmentation pathways included loss of either one or two carbohydrate substituents leading to the sodiated aglycon without interglycosidic bond cleavage during in MS(2) -experiments.

All sodiated precursor ions and major product ions were accompanied by a loss of 92 Da, which was elucidated as C7 H8 -loss from the aglycon by skeletal rearrangement via an eight-membered transition state as previously described for intact C40-carotenoids.

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In-chain Neutral Hydrocarbon Loss From Crocin Apocarotenoid Ester Glycosides and the Crocetin Aglycon (Crocus Sativus L.) by ESI-MS(n) (n=2, 3)

The post Hydrocarbon Loss appeared first on Krokos Kozanis.

Abstract

Experimental evidence indicates that the non-competitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist ketamine impairs cognition and can mimic certain aspects of positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia in rodents.

Crocins are among the active components of the plant Crocus sativus L. and were found to be effective in different models of psychiatric disorders including anxiety and depression.

The present study was designed to investigate the ability of crocins to counteract schizophrenia-like behavioural deficits produced by ketamine in rats.

Crocin’s ability to counteract hypermotility, stereotypies and ataxia induced by ketamine was evaluated in a motor activity cage.

The ability of crocins to reverse ketamine-induced memory deficits was assessed using the novel object recognition task (NORT).

The social interaction test was used in order to examine the effects of crocins on ketamine-induced social withdrawal. Crocins (50 but not 30 mg/kg, i.p.) attenuated ketamine (25 mg/kg, i.p.)-induced hypermotility, stereotypies and ataxia.

In a subsequent study, post-training administration of crocins (15 and 30 mg/kg, i.p.) reversed ketamine (3 mg/kg, i.p.)-induced performance deficits in the NORT. Finally, crocins (50 but not 30 mg/kg, i.p.) counteracted the ketamine (8 mg/kg, i.p.)-induced social isolation in the social interaction test.

Our findings show that crocins attenuated schizophrenia-like behavioural deficits induced by the non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine in rats.

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Crocins, the active constituents of Crocus Sativus L., counteracted ketamine-induced behavioural deficits in rats

The post Behavioural Deficits appeared first on Krokos Kozanis.

Abstract

Inhibitors of acetylcholine breakdown by acetylcholinesterase (AChE) constitute the main therapeutic modality for Alzheimer’s disease. In the search for natural products with inhibitory action on AChE, this study investigated the activity of saffron extract and its constituents by in vitro enzymatic and molecular docking studies.

Saffron has been used in traditional medicine against Alzheimer’s disease.

Saffron extract showed moderate AChE inhibitory activity (up to 30%), but IC(50) values of crocetin, dimethylcrocetin, and safranal were 96.33, 107.1, and 21.09 μM, respectively.

Kinetic analysis showed mixed-type inhibition, which was verified by in silico docking studies.

Safranal interacts only with the binding site of the AChE, but crocetin and dimethylcrocetin bind simultaneously to the catalytic and peripheral anionic sites.

These results reinforce previous findings about the beneficial action of saffron against Alzheimer’s disease and may be of value for the development of novel therapeutic agents based on carotenoid-based dual binding inhibitors.

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Saffron as a Source of Novel Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors: Molecular Docking and in Vitro Enzymatic Studies

The post Source of Novel Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors appeared first on Krokos Kozanis.

Abstract

Rationale:

The expensive spice saffron originating from the stigmas of Crocus sativus L. and also applied in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) constitutes a complex mixture of glycoconjugates varying not only in the aglycon structure, but also in glycosylation pattern. Therefore, various tandem mass spectrometric techniques were evaluated for their usefulness in structural elucidation.

Methods:

Three selected constituents of the stigmas of Crocus sativus L., trans- and cis-crocin-4 as well as picrocrocin, were isolated and purified by HPLC and finally analyzed by ESI-MS (ion trap, QqRTOF), IP-MALDI-MS (QqRTOF) and vMALDI-MS (TOF/RTOF) in combination with tandem mass spectrometry in collision energy regimes ranging from a few eV (LE) to 20 keV (HE) collisions for the first time. These data aid in structurally elucidating minor, unknown glycoconjugates originating from this plant-derived spice.

Results:

LE-CID of isomeric crocins on either an ion trap with ESI or a QqRTOF-instrument with ESI or IP-MALDI as desorption/ionization technique only yielded a limited number of structurally diagnostic sodiated product ions related to the carbohydrate moiety as well as to the intact aglycon in contrast to true HE-CID. The low MW constituent picrocrocin did not yield useful LE-CID spectra, but showed a high number of structurally diagnostic product ions by HE-CID utilizing a vMALDI TOF/RTOF-instrument.

Conclusions:

The highest number of structurally diagnostic product ions allowing also determination of the carbohydrate linkage of the gentiobiose-moiety of isomeric crocins ((0,4)A(2), (3,5)A(2) product ions indicating a 1→6 carbohydrate linkage) was only achievable by HE-CID. Fragmentation of the aglycon was not observed by any collision energy regime applied.

Comparison of Different Tandem Mass Spectrometric Techniques (ESI-IT, ESI- And IP-MALDI-QRTOF and vMALDI-TOF/RTOF) for the Analysis of Crocins and Picrocrocin From the Stigmas of Crocus Sativus L

The post Analysis of Crocins and Picrocrocin appeared first on Krokos Kozanis.