Nimodipine improves regional cerebral blood flow and suppresses inflammatory factors in the hippocampus of rats with vascular dementia.
OBJECTIVE
To study the effect of nimodipine on hippocampal regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and proinflammatory cytokines in rats with experimental vascular dementia.


METHODS
Male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups (n = 15/group): sham operated controls (group A); focal cerebral ischaemia (group B); vascular dementia (group C); and vascular dementia treated with 20 mg/kg nimodipine daily (group D). The Morris water maze test evaluated learning and memory, and magnetic resonance perfusion-weighted imaging was used to measure rCBF. Hippocampal levels of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin 1β (IL-1β) were measured.


RESULTS
Compared with group C, rats in group D demonstrated significantly improved learning ability and significantly increased hippocampal rCBF. The levels of NF-κB, TNF-α and IL-1β were significantly lower in group D than in group C. Hippocampal nerve cell morphology was abnormal in group C but near normal in group D.


CONCLUSIONS
Nimodipine improved the symptoms of cognitive impairment, increased rCBF, reduced hippocampal cytokine levels and alleviated neuronal injury in the hippocampus of rats with experimental vascular dementia.
Department of Radiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning Medical College, Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China.
X-L
XL
Zhang
S-L
SL
Zheng
F-R
FR
Dong
Z-M
ZM
Wang
D000818:Animals; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007249:Inflammation / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning; D009553:Nimodipine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers; D009553:Nimodipine