Fig. 9.

Representative photomicrographs of H&E-stained microsections from the cerebral cortex (n = 3). Pathological changes are indicated by black arrows in the panel. Slides from (a) negative control rats reveal normal architecture, while those obtained from (b, c, d) CUS group display necrosis of pyramidal neurons (NP), pyknosis of granular cells (PG), perivascular and intracellular edema (VE and CE, respectively), proliferation of glial cells (GL), and vacuolation of neuropil (VN). Marked necrosis of pyramidal neurons (NP) is the major feature in (g) BQ-788 + Dapa-treated rats, while both (f) Dapa and (e) Escita show only mild changes with neuronophagia (NH) being only seen in Escita (400 × , scale bar 50 μm). The pathological scores are represented in panel (h), where data is presented as box and whiskers by median (min−max) and 25^th−75^th percentile values using Kruskal–Wallis test with Dunn’s multiple comparison post-test; as compared to normal (*), CUS (@), Escita (&), and Dapa ($)-treated groups (p ˂ 0.05). B BQ-788, CUS chronic unpredictable stress, Dapa dapagliflozin, Escita escitalopram