Figure 2. Histomorphological and neuroprotective protein profiles of hippocampus as determine by H&E stating and Western blotting analysis.
Histological images of hippocampus (A–E) and pyknotic index in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus in male rats under stress exposures (F). The black arrow indicates a normal granular cell, characterized by a dark-staining nucleus and scanty cytoplasm. The black asterisk indicates pyknotic nuclei, small condensed, dark-staining nuclei with eosinophilic cytoplasm. Relative glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) protein in hippocampus in stressed rats (G) and the representative expression of GDNF to GAPDH (H). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001 compared to vehicle-treated control rats. †p < 0.05 compared to vehicle-treated stressed rats (n = 4 rats/group). Con, control; Str, stressed+vehicle; Str+Vlx, stressed+venlafaxine; Str+Syn, stressed+synbiotic supplement; Str+Vlx+Syn, stressed+venlafaxine+synbiotic supplement.