Fig. 6.

Crocin-related effect on depressive-like behaviors and neurogenesis were blocked in mice with TMZ treatment. (A) Experimental timeline for the impact of TMZ blockade of late-phase DCX⁺ progenitors on crocin’s antidepressant activity. (B) Sections of TMZ, Vehicle or crocin treated mice were immunolabled with DCX (red). Amplified pictures of the dash-line rectangle region were shown to observe DCX⁺ cell morphology alteration following TMZ treatment. Scale bar: 100 μm. (C-D) Quantification of dendritic length and total DCX⁺ cell number in DG (unpaired student’s t-test). (E-F) The effect of crocin on immobility time of TMZ-treated mice or vehicle control mice in TST and FST. (two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey post hoc). Results are presented as mean ± SEM. **p < 0.01; ns, no significance.