Background: Aspartame is an artificial sweetener and unfortunately its intake might cause a dangerous effect on the cerebellar cortex. Curcumin has a neuroprotective role in many diseases.
Objective: The study aimed to assess the possible ameliorating role of curcumin against the structural changes of cerebellar cortex that had been associated with aspartame administration in adult wistar rats.
Materials and Methods: 48 male adult wistar rats were divided equally into 4 groups. Group I or control, group II or curcumin group each rat received curcumin 100mg/kg/day, group III, each rat received aspartame 250 mg/kg/day and in group IV, each rat received curcumin and aspartame as group II and group III concomitantly. The doses were given orally once daily for 8 weeks. By the end of the experiment, all animals were sacrificed, specimens of cerebellum were processed and stained with hematoxylin and eosin, Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) and caspase-3 for histological and immunohistochemical studies. Morphometric and statistical studies were performed.
Results: Cerebellar cortex of aspartametreated group showed features of neurodegeneration of purkinje cells with areas of neuropil loss in the molecular and granular layers. Also, area percentage of GFAP immunoexpression was increased. The number of purkinje cells that showed positive immunoreaction of caspase 3 was also increased. On concomitant administration of curcuminwith aspartame, the structural changes of cerebellar cortex were decreased.
Conclusion: Curcumin intake partially protects the cerebellar cortex from hazards of aspartame intake ,so supplementation of curcuminin diet is recommended with regular intake of aspartame.