ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of Uncaria rhynchophylla total alkaloids (RTA) pretreatment on the voltage-gated sodium currents of the rat hippocampal neurons after acute hypoxia.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Primary cultured hippocampal neurons were divided into RTA pre-treated and non-pretreated groups. Patch clamp whole-cell recording was used to compare the voltage-gated sodium current amplitude and threshold with those before hypoxia.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>After acute hypoxia, sodium current amplitude was significantly decreased and its threshold was upside. RTA pretreatment could inhibit the reduction of sodium current amplitude.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>RTA pretreatment alleviates the acute hypoxia-induced change of sodium currents, which may be one of the mechanisms for protective effect of RTA on cells.</p>