The effects of nano-silver and garlic administration during pregnancy on neuron apoptosis in rat offspring hippocampus

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of nano-silver and garlic administration during pregnancy on neuron apoptosis in rat offspring hippocampus. MATERIALS AND METHODS FIFTY PREGNANT WISTAR RATS WERE RANDOMLY DIVIDED INTO FIVE GROUPS: 1- nano-silver (N.S) group; 30 mg/kg of N.S treated via gavage. 2- Control (C) group, administrated with distilled water via gavage. 3- N.S and garlic (N.S+G) group; N.S (30 mg/kg) and garlic juice (1 ml/100 g) treated via gavage simultaneously. 4- Garlic group (G); garlic juice (1 ml/100 g) administrated via gavage, 5- normal (N) without any intervention. All the interventions were done during pregnancy (21 days). Finally, the brains of rat offspring were removed to use for nano-silver level measurement and TUNEL staining. The mean of TUNEL positive cell numbers per unit area (NA) in different regions of hippocampus were compared in all animal groups. RESULTS The results revealed a significant increase of hippocampus nano-silver level in N.S and N.S+G groups comparing to N group (P<0.05) and a significant decrease in nano-silver level in N.S+G group comparing to N.S group (P<0.01). The number of TUNEL positive cells in the CA1, CA3, and DG fields of rat offspring hippocampus increased in N.S and N.S+G groups comparing to other ones, and also reduced significantly in N.S+G group comparing to N.S group ((¥) P< 0.01). CONCLUSION Our results showed that co-administration of nano-silver and garlic during pregnancy may lead to reduce nano-silver induced apoptotic cells in their offspring hippocampus.