Natural products with high pharmacological potential and low toxicity have been considered as the novel therapeutic agents. Crocetin is an active constituent of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) stigma, which in its free-acid form is insoluble in water and most organic solvents. Crocetin exhibits various health-promoting properties including anti-tumor, neuroprotective effects, anti-diabetics, anti-inflammatory, anti-hyperlipidemia, etc. These therapeutic effects can be achieved with different mechanisms such as improvement of oxygenation in hypoxic tissues, antioxidant effects, inhibition of pro-inflammatory mediators, anti-proliferative activity and stimulation of apoptosis in cancer cells. It is also worth considering that crocetin could be tolerated without major toxicity at therapeutic dosage in experimental models. In the present review, we discuss the biosynthesis, pharmacokinetic properties of crocetin and provide a comprehensive study on the biological activities and toxicity along with the mechanism of actions and clinical trials data of crocetin.

具有高药理学潜力和低毒性的天然产物被认为是新型治疗剂。藏花酸是藏红花的活性成分（番红花大号。柱头，其呈游离酸形式，不溶于水和大多数有机溶剂。Crocetin具有多种促进健康的特性，包括抗肿瘤，神经保护作用，抗糖尿病药，抗炎药，抗高血脂症等。这些治疗作用可以通过不同的机制来实现，例如改善低氧组织的氧合作用，抗氧化作用，抑制促炎介质，抗增殖活性和刺激癌细胞凋亡。还值得考虑的是，在实验模型中，在治疗剂量下，大黄素可以耐受而没有重大毒性。在本综述中，我们讨论了生物合成，