Histopathological Study of the Hypocampal Neurons in Male Rats Treated with Citalopram and Aqueous Extract of Saffron

Depression is a serious mental disorder which many people suffer from it. Hippocampus is one part of the brain whose destruction is regarded as important in depression. The purpose of this study was to investigate the structure of the neurons included in hippocampus of depressed rats which were treated with saffron aqueous extract and citalopram. In the following experimental study, 40 male adult rats were randomly assigned into five equal groups. Except the first group, other groups were assigned into pure darkness for six weeks to induce depression. Later, the forced swimming test (FST) was applied to prove the depression. The groups include: 1) safe sham 2) depressed sham 3) depressed control group. The depressed control group received saline, whereas the two other groups were orderly given saffron aqueous extract with 160 mg/kg dosage and citalopram with 10 mg/kg dosage. Drugs were injected for 4 weeks once a day. Cit alopram and saffron significantly reduced immobility (p<0.05). The saffron group had healthy neurons in all three parts of hippocampus which is similar to the non-depressed group. In citalopram group, healthy neurons were observed in CA1 and DG parts of hippocampus. The aqueous extract of saffron has more beneficial effects regarding the neuronal damage in depressed animals in contrast to citalopram.