Fig. 4. Effect of curcumin on hippocampus neuronal degeneration after subarachnoid hemorrhage. The samples were obtained from rats on day 7. The rats in the sham group showed no neuronal degeneration in the dentate gyrus, cornu ammonis 1 or cornu ammonis 3 (A , E , and I , respectively). In the rats in the subarachnoid hemorrhage group (B , F , and J ) and vehicle group (C , G , and K ), there was moderate to severe neuronal degeneration in the dentate gyrus, cornu ammonis 1, and cornu ammonis 3. In the curcumin group, there was normal to mild neuronal degeneration in the dentate gyrus, cornu ammonis 1, and cornu ammonis 3 (D , H , and L , respectively). Normal neuron cell bodies with distinct nuclei and nucleoli are evident. Degenerated neurons have pyknotic nuclei, dark cells, and vacuolar spaces (indicated with arrows ). Magnified at 400x; n = 6 in each group; scale bar = 50 μm. The curcumin group is subarachnoid hemorrhage rats treated with curcumin; the vehicle group is subarachnoid hemorrhage rats treated with dimethyl sulfoxide. CA1 = cornu ammonis 1; CA3 = cornu ammonis 3; Cur = curcumin; DA = dentate gyrus; SAH = subarachnoid hemorrhage.