Comment · Fri, June 10, 2022 · ND Owner
Anyone try the saffron yet?
What they were answering
fawkerzzz · 1 points
I'm so confused as to the difference between safranal and crocin.
On your website it says crocin is responsible for the serotonin reuptake inhibiton.
This says crocin is dopamine epinephrine, safranal via serotonin
https://www.actahort.org/books/650/650\_54.htm
"On the basis of these results, the antidepressant effect of C. sativus stigma extracts may be mediated via safranal and crocin. Crocin may act via the uptake inhibition of dopamine and norepinephrine, and safranal via serotonin."
This one says the opposite, that safranal is responsible of the dopamine release-
" As mentioned above, safranal can increase dopamine release in the rat brain (Shams et al., 2010) which may safranal may interact with morphine by such mechanism"
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Then this study on affron which is 2% safranal and 3% crocin says
https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/25/14/3207/htm
"The clear actions of affron® in the amelioration of anhedonia suggest a more potent action in the regulation of dopamine than serotonin or other monoamines. Indeed, regarding dop…
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · ND Owner
It's a bit muddied, for sure. We did a bunch of personal testing of various extracts, and we think that crocin is resulting in serotonin effects. We don't have direct scientific studies proving that, but the effects of serotonin increases are pretty easy to feel. Extracts higher in corocin seem to be strongest in that regard. We think crocetin is the hold grail compound, which acts on sigma-1 receptors and NMDA. That's low in most saffron extracts, and the compound that I am personally trying to get in higher amounts in our next saffron extract. Come crocin metabolizes into crocetin, but I don't think enough.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4599114/
In our present study, there was no significant difference in the climbing behavior between desipiramine as a selective norepinephrine receptor inhibitor (SNRI) drug and crocetin or crocin. Swimming behavior was also the same in animals treated with fluoxetine, a SSRI drug and crocin or crocetin. Hence, we were not able to estimate the effect of crocin and crocetin on the levels of biogenic amines (serotonin and/or norepinephrine).
So you can see it is not clear yet. We think crocins are the primary serotonin agents, but that is just a theory at this point.