[Effect of electroacupuncture on apoptosis of hippocampus tissue in mice with vascular dementia].
OBJECTIVE
To observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on hippocampal apoptosis and learning-memory ability in vascular dementia (VD) mice so as to investigate its underlying mechanism in the treatment of VD patients.


METHODS
Kunming mice were randomly divided into sham-operation (sham, n = 13), model (n = 15), EA (n = 16) and Nimodipine (intragastric gavage, 30 mg/kg for 15 days, n = 15) groups. VD model was duplicated by occlusion of bilateral carotid arteries and reperfusion. EA (2-80 Hz, 2 mA) was applied to "Dazhui" (GV 14), "Baihui" (GV 20), "Geshu" (BL 17) and "Zusanli" (ST 36) for 10 min, once daily for 15 days. Step-down and step-up tests were performed to assess the animal's memory and learning abilities separately; and the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-nick end-labeling (TUNEL) method was used to display the apoptotic cells of the hippocampus tissue.


RESULTS
In comparison with sham group, the animals' reaction time upon electric shock stimulation, both step-up and step-down error times, and hippocampal apoptosis number in model, EA and Nimodipine groups increased significantly (P<0.01), while the reaction latency upon electric shock of model, EA and Nimodipine groups decreased significantly (P<0.01). Compared with model group, the reaction time, both step-up and step-down error times and hippocampal apoptosis number of both EA and Nimodipine groups decreased significantly (P<0.05, P<0.01); while the reaction latency of EA and Nimodipine groups increased considerably (P<0.01). Comparison between EA and Nimodipine groups showed that the reaction latency of EA group was obviously longer than that of the later group (P<0.01), and the step-down error times of EA group was markedly lower than that of Nimodipine group (P<0.05). No significant differences were found between these two groups in other indexes (P>0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
EA can ameliorate VD mice's learning-memory ability, which may be closely related to its effect in reducing hippocampal apoptosis.
Zhang
Hui-zhen
HZ
College of Chinese Medicine, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, 050091, China. zhz6212202@163.com
Zhang
Li-xin
LX
She
Yan-fen
YF
Li
Wen-li
WL
Zhang
Xue-jing
XJ
Zhang
Rui-juan
RJ
D015669:Acupuncture Points; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D015671:Electroacupuncture; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D051379:Mice; D011897:Random Allocation