2.4.4. Histopathological Evaluation

At the end of our experiment, the stomach sections of four rats were chosen randomly from each group to evaluate the histopathological changes in the gastric mucosa of rats following the treatment. The stomach tissue was fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin overnight. Each sample was then embedded in paraffin and sections (4 μm thick) were cut and stained with hematoxylin-eosin (HE) for morphological analysis. The inflammation score was used for recording and grading the histopathological findings as follows: 0, no infiltration of leukocytes; 1, mild infiltration of leukocytes; 2, moderate infiltration of leukocytes; and 3, severe infiltration of leukocytes. Gastritis was classified according to Sydney System. A modified score (0–3) was assigned to metaplasia and mononuclear cells infiltration according to Sozzi et al. [30].