Introduction: Sciatic nerve compression is one of the factors that may cause the cell body degeneration of the alpha-motoneurons of spinal cord ventral horn. Nigella sativa belongs to the family of Ranunculaceae which owns numerous pharmacological properties. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the neuro-protective effects of n-butanol and ethyl acetate fractions of Nigella sativa on motoneurons’ density of Spinal Cord Ventral Horn in Rats undergoing compressived injury of sciatic nerve. Methods: In this study, 24 Wistar male rats with average body weight of 250gr to 300gr were divided into four groups of six: control, compression, A(compression + n-butanol fraction 75mg/kg) and B(compression+ethyl acetate fraction75mg/kg). In compression and treatment groups, sciatic nerve of the right leg underwent compression (30sec). In fact, the extract was injected intraperitoneally twice after the compression. After 28days, lumbar segments of spinal cord L2-L4 were sampled under perfusion method. After going through tissue processes, they were cut in serial sections (7µ), and stained with toluidine blue. Then, the density of alpha-motoneurons of spinal cord ventral horn was measured by using dissector method. Conclusion: The study findings revealed that n-butanol fraction of Nigella sativa caused an increase in neuronal density which posesses neuroprotective effects. This could be due to antioxidant and anti inflammatory effects of this herb. However, increases in neuronal density in ethyl acetate fraction didn’t prove to be significant.

Keywords: Degeneration, Nigella sativa, Rat, Sciatic Nerve

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