Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a cosmopolitan zoonotic cestode disease in humans typically caused by infections from the oncospheres of Echinococcus granulosus. Currently, anti-parasitic treatment remains the only option for echinococcosis patients for whom surgery is contraindicated (Moro and Schantz, 2009). Moreover, even in individuals who undergo surgery, anti-parasitic treatment is always used to relieve or reduce the possible recurrence of this disease, which is the most common complication after radical resection of echinococcus masses (Moro and Schantz, 2009; Eckert and Deplazes, 2004). However, in clinical practice, anti-parasitic treatment is unsatisfactory due to many factors, such as the poor solubility of the medications and weak intestinal absorption. (El-On, 2003).

Herbal medicine proposes a substitute to overcome some of these complications, and they would be, both maintainable and biologically suitable. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the reactions performed by medicinal plants may provide essential insights into the identification novel bioactive components from natural resources.which would help to designefficient pharmacotherapies with minimal side effects. Several studies have identified new compounds of medicinal plants with activities against CE (Haji Mohammadi et al., 2018; Moazeni et al., 2014, 2017).

Saffron, a plant without stems which is in the family of Iridaceae, is utilized primarily as a spicing agent and food coloring. The pharmacologically active saffron contains three primary metabolites, including crocin, picrocrocin, safranal which is producing the color, the odor and the bitter savor of saffron, respectively (José Bagur et al., 2017; Christodoulou et al., 2015). Therapeutic effects of saffron have been reported in various disorders such as asthma, autoimmune, diabetes and cardiovascular, (Christodoulou et al., 2015; Khorasanchi et al., 2018). Of the carotenoids present in saffron, highly water-soluble crocin (mono and diglycosyl esters of a polyene dicarboxylic acid, named crocetin) is responsible for the majority of its color, and appears to possess various health-promoting properties, as an antioxidant, antitumor, memory enhancer, antidepressant, anxiolytic and aphrodisiac. It is also worth noting that the crocin principle of saffron exhibited high efficacy along with no major toxicity in experimental models. (Christodoulou et al., 2015; Khorasanchi et al., 2018).

The potential antimalarial and anti-Leishmanial effects of two main compounds in saffron including crocin and safranal, were previously investigated (De Monte et al., 2015; Yousefi et al., 2014). However, there is no published data on the in vivo efficacy of this herb on E. granulosus sensu lato. Consequently, the objective of the current investigation was to compare the effect of crocin with that of albendazole in experimentally E. granulosus sensu lato infected mice and assess the effect of treatment on the liver function.