Affiliations 

  • 1 Universiti Putra Malaysia
  • 2 Mashhad University of Medical Sciences
MyJurnal

Abstract

Thirty-six adult male SD rats, weighing 200-250 g were used in this study. Dietary obesity was induced by feeding high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks. One group of animal (n=6) served as normal control which received normal diet from the beginning to the end of the study. The other 30 male obese animals induced by HFD were randomly divided into five experimental groups: The group which received high-fat diet considered as a negative control and the other four groups were treated with saffron extract and crocin in low and high dosages of 40 and 80 mg/kg for 8 weeks. At the end of treatment period, kidney and pancreas were removed and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E). There were significant histopathological changes, such as tubular degenerative, vascular congestion and interstitial inflammation in the kidney and extensive pancreatic adipose tissue infiltration in high-fat diet rats group when compared with normal control. The results showed less significant histopathological changes of the kidney and also moderate pancreatic adipose tissue infiltration in the groups treated with crocin. Interestingly saffron extract dose-independently displayed significant renal protective effect while a significant decrease in pancreatic adipose tissue infiltration was observed in obese rat treated with high dose of saffron extract (80 mg/kg). From these results, it can be concluded that consumption of saffron extract reduced the untoward effects of high-fat diet in kidney and pancreas of high-fat diet induced obese rats.