ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the therapeutic effects of aqueous extract of ginger on vascular dementia(VD) in rats.Methods Male SD rats were randomly divided into sham-operation group, model contral group, huperzine A group and three ginger aqueous extract groups for high, middle and low dosage. The VD rat model was established by bilateral corotid ligation and repeated cerebral ischemia reperfusion. Spatial learning and memory abilities in both place navigation test and spatial prob test were evaluated with Morris water maze. The activitie of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in cortex and striatum tissue and SOD and MDA content in brain tissue was detected by spectrophotometry.Results Compared with sham-operation group, the rats in model control group exhibited serious learning and memory deficits in both place navigation test and spatial prob test and decreased significantly AChE activity in striatum tissue. Aqueous extract of ginger could not only improve the learning and memory abilities in both place navigation test and spatial prob test, but also increase AChE activity and the ratio of SOD/MDA and decrease MDA content in brain tissue. Conclusion Aqueous extract of ginger has obvious effects on improving learning and momery abilities of rats with VD. Increasing the function of cholinergic neuron and inhibiting AChE activity are likely to be the partial mechanism.