CLINICS 2011;66(4):663-671 Effect of Bacopa monniera on amygdaloid neurons Vollala VR et al. Figure 3 - Camera lucida tracings of basolateral amygdaloid neurons from control rats A) and rats treated with Bacopa monniera for 4 weeks at doses of 20 mg/kg B), 40 mg/kg C) and 80 mg/kg D). rats treated with BM compared with normal control rats indicated an increase in the ability to retain avoidance memories, which implied possible effects of BM on amygdaloid neurons. The present study showed that the basolateral amygda- loid neuronal dendrites of rats treated with BM 40 and 80 mg/kg for 4 weeks and with 20, 40 and 80 mg/kg for 6 weeks resulted in significant increases in dendritic length and number of branching points. In addition, treatment with higher doses of BM extract (40 and 80 mg/kg) for 6 weeks increased the number of dendritic processes that arose from the somata. Increased dendritic length and Table 1 - Basolateral amygdaloid neuronal dendritic intersections and the number of dendritic processes arising from the somata (4-week duration). Groups NC GAC BM 20 mg/kg BM 40 mg/kg BM 80 mg/kg n 8 8 8 8 8 Distance from soma, mm 20 5.46 ¡ 1.23 5.71 ¡ 0.82 5.68 ¡ 0.74 7.25 ¡ 0.59** 7.08 ¡ 0.76$$ 40 6.61 ¡ 1.03 6.47 ¡ 0.95 7.24 ¡ 0.83 10.32 ¡ 0.69*** 9.86 ¡ 1.06$$$ 60 5.66 ¡ 1.21 5.39 ¡ 1.32 6.87 ¡ 0.80 7.98 ¡ 1.14** 7.69 ¡ 0.87$$ 80 4.07 ¡ 1.38 3.94 ¡ 1.23 4.68 ¡ 0.76 6.23 ¡ 0.90** 6.04 ¡ 0.82$$ 100 2.41 ¡ 0.69 2.36 ¡ 0.54 3.02 ¡ 0.95 2.98 ¡ 1.16 3.14 ¡ 0.62 Number of processes 4.43 ¡ 0.68 4.27 ¡ 0.50 4.11 ¡ 0.64 4.38 ¡ 0.71 4.76 ¡ 0.45 BM, Bacopa monniera; GAC, gum acacia control; NC, normal control. Note: Each value represents mean ¡ standard deviation. NC vs. BM 40 mg/kg: ** P,0.01, *** P,0.001; NC vs. BM 80 mg/kg: $$ P,0.01, $$$ P,0.001. 667