RESUMEN
Objective To investigate the potential effects of rosuvastatin on white matter lesion and spatial memo?ry function in chronic hypertensive rats. Methods Fourty-nine male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham-operation group, vehicle-treated group, and rosuvastatin-treated group (10 mg/kg).A model of stroke-prone reno?vascular hypertensive rat (RHRSP) was induced by using the two-kidney two clip method in the vehicle-treated group and the rosuvastatin-treated group. Blood pressure was monitored regularly. Morris water maze experiment was conduct?ed to assess spatial memory function. Luxol fast blue stanning was used to examine the degree of leukoaraiosis. Immuno?fluorescence and electron microscopy was used to detectβ-amyloid deposits. TUNEL staining was used to assess apopto?sis. Results The blood pressure of RHRSP increased progressively after operation.Blood pressure was significantly high?er in RHRSP than in sham-operation group (P<0.01). The escape latencies of the rosuvastatin-treated group were mark?edly shorter in RHRSP than in sham-operation group (P<0.01). The numbers of crossing hidden platform in the 3 groups of rats were 4.55±1.23, 1.00±0.80 and 3.79±0.95 times. There were significantly differences in numbers of crossing hid? den platform among three groups (P<0.01). Luxol fast blue stanning showed that the grading scores for WML were lower in the rosuvastatin-treated than in the vehicle-treated group (P<0.01). Rosuvastatin significantly decreased the burden of Aβdeposits(17.47±3.59 vs. 4.42±1.57,P<0.01)and the TUNEL+cells(37.84±4.73 vs. 14.42±2.43,P<0.01)in the fron?tal cortex when compared with the vehicle-treated group. Conclusions Rosuvastatin may ameliorate spatial memory func?tion through attenuation of white matter lesion, Aβdeposits and apoptosis .