DonnishJournals 2041-3163 Corresponding Author: fab20062003@yahoo.com Donnish Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology Vol 1(1) pp. 001-007 February, 2015. http://www.donnishjournals.org/djpp Copyright © 2015 Donnish Journals Original Research Article Evaluation of the Toxic Effect of Ethanolic Extract of Saffron in Male Mice after Subchronic Exposure Falah Muosa Kadhim AL-Rekabi, Salma Jameel Askar and Eman Hashim Yousif AL-Taee College of Veterinary Medicine, University Of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq. Accepted, 11th February, 2015. This study is conducted to investigate the toxicity of saffron ( Crocous Sativa L) in male Balb-C mice. The range finding study revealed that ethanolic extract of saffron is practically not acutely toxic. The subchronic exposure of mice to two different doses 4000, 5000 mg/Kg.BW orally for five weeks exhibited a significant decrease in WBC, RBC count and low hemoglobin level. Kidney function impairment was observed through a significant increase in serum level of BUN and creatinine, which was more significant after high dose (5000 mg) exposure, histopathological changes like degeneration of epithelial cells, lining the proximal and distal convoluted tubules was also observed. Some liver injury enzyme tests ALT and AST revealed a significant increase in serum activity of AST only after exposure to both doses of plant extract, mild histopathological changes in liver tissue included dilation of the central vein and vacuolar degeneration were observed. There was a significant decrease in body weight of mice proportional to the dose and period of exposure during the time of study. Keywords: Toxic effect, Ethanolic extract, Saffron, Male mice, Subchronic 1. INTRODUCTION Since the past decades, people have been interested in folk and recently herbal medicine for the treatment of a variety of diseases (1). They don’t care about the possible toxic effects of medicinal plants. Saffron (powder of deride stigma of Crocous Sativus L) is habitually used in many nations like Iraq and Iran as a spice by sprinkling it on cooked rice. Pharmacological studies have revealed the extract of saffron has different therapeutic effects like anticonvulsant (2), antidepressant (3), antinociceptive (4) and antioxidant (5). Saffron as a medicinal plant has a wide range of therapeutic and adverse effects (6). Nowadays, there is the tendency for studying the plant’s adverse and toxic effects (7). Toxicological studies had shown that the LD50 of saffron stigma in mice is 1.6g/K.g.BW, but certain studies of sub-acute exposure showed a decrease in hematocrit, erythrocyte and hemoglobin values, while it didn’t cause pathological lesion in different organs (8). Nikethamide is a CNS stimulant which induces convulsion (9). Since saffron is habitually used by many people worldwide, we are concerned to study if there are possible toxic effects, because the safety of saffron is very important in relation to their habitual consumption and medicinal use. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1. Plant The powder of saffron stigma was purchased from Novin Zeferan Co (Mashhad, Iran).