番红花素（一种萜类醛类化合物）是番红花的主要挥发性成分，负责赋予番红花独特的气味。多项研究显示番红花素具有抗氧化、抗炎、心脏保护、神经保护、肾脏保护、胃肠保护等药理活性。本研究旨在综述番红花素的药理和医学作用，并梳理目前的知识。此外，还收集了与番红花素药理作用相关的专利。因此，综合检索了Web of Sciences、Scopus、PubMed等电子数据库获取2010年至2022年6月的与药理作用相关的英文关键词。根据我们的综述，大多数研究与番红花素对中枢神经系统的作用有关，如抗焦虑、镇痛、抗癫痫、抗缺血、抗震颤、增强记忆等，以及其对阿尔茨海默病、帕金森病和亨廷顿病等神经退行性疾病的保护作用。番红花素的其他作用包括抗哮喘、降压、抗衰老、抗白内障等。此外，已显示这种药物对代谢综合征和糖尿病肾病的保护作用。参与番红花素药理作用的机制包括抗氧化、抗炎、肌肉松弛、抗凋亡，以及对氧化应激、炎症、凋亡、增殖等信号通路相关的基因和蛋白质表达的调节作用等。还包括预防和/或治疗肝癌、睡眠障碍、抑郁症、认知障碍、肥胖和月经前综合征等不同疾病的专利。根据文件资料，虽然需要更多的临床研究来验证番红花素在人类中的益处，但番红花素被认为是一种有前途的治疗药物。

Safranal (a monoterpene aldehyde) is the major volatile component of saffron which is responsible for the saffron unique odor. Several studies have shown the pharmacological activities of safranal including anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, neuroprotective, nephroprotective, gastrointestinal protective, etc. This study was designed to review the pharmacological and medical effects of safranal and up-to-date previous knowledge. Moreover, some patents related to the pharmacological effects of safranal were gathered. Therefore, electronic databases including Web of Sciences, Scopus, and Pubmed for pharmacological effects and US patent, Patentscope, and Google Patent for patents were comprehensively searched by related English keywords from 2010 to June 2022. According to our review, most of the studies are related to the safranal effects on CNS such as antianxiety, analgesic, anticonvulsant, antiischemic, anti-tremor, memory enhancement and its protective effects on neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson and Huntington diseases. Other effects of safranal are antiasthmatic, antihypertensive, antiaging, anticataract, etc. Moreover, the protective effects of this agent on metabolic syndrome and diabetic nephropathy have been shown. Different mechanisms including anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, muscle relaxation, antiapoptotic, and regulatory effects on the genes and proteins expression related to signaling pathways of oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, proliferation, etc. are involved in safranal pharmacological effects. Some patents for the prevention and/or treatment of different diseases such as liver cancer, sleep disorder, depression, cognitive disorder, obesity and PMS were also included. Based on the documents, safranal is considered a promising therapeutic agent although more clinical studies are needed to verify the beneficial effects of safranal in humans.