Crocin has been reported to significantly inhibit the growth of different types of cancerous cell lines such as colorectal cancer cells.Effects of crocin on tubulin polymerization has been already studied.Crocin may alter the tubulin polymerization through direct binding.ATP synthase reference 4 is a key enzyme of mitochondrial energy conversion.Ahmad and Laughlin discussed that dietary polyphenols Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries and amphibian antimicrobial antitumor peptides inhibit ATP synthase.Inhibition of ATP synthase may cause energy deprivation and increase ROS production.High ROS content induces cellular Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries ne crosis and or apoptosis.Our Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries experiment showed that crocin may physically interact with this enzyme,which is consistent with the findings of a previous study with safranal as another important constituent of saffron.

However,contrasting evidence has shown that cro cin reduces ROS generation in cells exposed to acry1a mide.Overall,the majority of previous findings favor the antioxidant role of crocin and Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries this may be due to the inhibitory effect of this phytochemical on other sources of ROS production,in particular lipid peroxida tion,as well enhancement of free radical neutralization via stimulating the activity of superoxide dismutase and increasing intracellular glutathione content.Creatine kinase catalyzes transfer of phosphate group from ATP to creatine to produce phosphocreatine and vice versa.CK works as an energy buffer and is found in tissues with high and or fluctuating energy de mand such as heart,muscle and brain.Incubation of crocin resin with brain homogenate showed that cro cin has affinity for CK B.

Any change in CK activity may affect energy homeostasis in cell.Dahlstedt and Wester blad showed that creatine kinase inhibition may re duce Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries the rate of fatigue induced by decrease in tetanic Ca2 in mouse skeletal muscle.The oral administra tion of crocetin has been reported to improve physical capacity during fatigue induced workload tests in men.Crocin was also found to interact with cytochrome c1 and cytochrome b c1.The most conserved role of these cytochromes is in the electron transport chain and oxida tive phosphorylation.Moreover,cytochrome c release into the cytosol is particularly associated with activation of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway.In previous studies,saf fron carotenoids including crocin have been shown to modulate apoptosis through different mechanisms such as inhibition of ROS production and direct inter action with caspase 3 and caspase 8.

Crocin has been reported to promote apoptosis in tumor cells while exerting anti apoptotic effects in non tumor cells.In view of the present finding,interaction of crocin with cytochrome c might play an important role in the stimula tory and inhibitory activities of this phytochemical on the under apoptosis pathway and deserves further attention.V ATPase inhibitors such as bafilomycin A1 may induce apoptosis through intracellular acidosis.