Transcrocetin (trans-Crocetin) shown to exert strong NMDA receptor affinity and is thought to be responsible for the CNS activity of saffron.Cellular mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity of Caco-2 cells is measured by MTT assay after a 24 h incubation period with the test compounds: Hydroalcoholic saffron extract saffron extract (SE, 0.5-1 mg/mL) and crocin-1 (250-1000 μM) reveal no negative significant changes in cellular viability. Transcrocetin at 10 μM level does not change viability while higher concentrations (40-160 μM) reduces significantly cellular viability.