ABSTRACT
Aspartame is an artificial sweetener used in more than 6,000 diet products, beverages, and pharmaceuticals. Aspartame had been the subject of controversy by many agencies regarding its safety and the circumstances of its approval. Was to evaluate the effect of aspartame on the hippocampus. Fifteen adult male albino rats were used. The rats were divided into 3 groups 5 animals each. Group I served as a control group. Group II was formed of the animals that received aspartame orally in a dose of 250 mg / kg / day for 2 months. Group III was formed of animals that received similar dose of the drug for 2 months and were left for recovery for 1 month. Specimens from hippocampus were processed for H and E, Golgi Cox, immunostaining for glial fibrillar acidic protein and electron microscopy. Sections obtained from animals of group II showed distortion and irregularity of some pyramidal cells of hippocampus. The nuclei appeared to be pyknotic. There was an increase in number of astrocytes showed by immunostain to glial fibrillar acidic protein. Electron microscopic study demonstrated cytoplasmic vacuoles and decreased number of ribosomes. Sections obtained from rats of group III showed slight improvement of the aspartame produced changes. Therefore it was concluded that consumption of aspartame had toxic effects on hippocampus of rats and one month of cessation was not sufficient to obtain a normal histological appearance of the hippocampus