Quercetin Alleviates Red Bull Energy Drink-Induced Cerebral Cortex Neurotoxicity via Modulation of Nrf2 and HO-1

Figure 8

Toluidine blue-stained sections from the rat cerebral cortex of different groups (×1000, scale bars: 20 μm). (a) An intact neuron with normal granular blue cytoplasm (c) and well-defined euchromatic nuclei (N) including prominent nucleoli make up the control group. (b) Group II, which had been given RB, showing large areas of degeneration (#) within the neuropil as well as a very faint cytoplasmic appearance (C). The nuclei reveal chromatin margination (arrowheads) or chromatin condensation (curved arrows). (c) In group III, QR+RB cotreatment resulted in more preserved cerebral cortex architecture, except for a few dizzy cytoplasmic neurons (C) and scattered vacuoles (#). (d) Neuropil tissue loss (#), pale neuronal cytoplasm (C), and nuclei with marginated chromatin (arrowheads) appeared in the RB-recovery group. (e) The percentage of preserved neurons in toluidine blue-stained sections. vs. the control group; ^# vs. the RB group; vs. the RB-recovery group.

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