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

objective(s):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.