Role of tetramethylpyrazine in protection of homocysteine-induced hippocampal neural apoptosis in mice / 实用医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the role of tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) in protection of homocysteine (HCY)-induced apoptosis of hippocampal neurons in mice. Methods One hundred healthy adult Kunming mice of clean grade were randomly divided into 5 groups, 20 for each group. HCY was injected into lateral ventricle using stereotaxic technique. FJB staining was used to detect neural apoptosis and the Morris water maze test was applied to assess memory and cognitive abilities. Results FJB staining showed that apoptosis of hippocampal neurons in the mice treated with TMP at different doses decreased significantly as compared with that in HCY group, especially at a dose of 20 g/L. Conclusions TMP can alleviate HCY-induced damage of the hippocampal neurons in mice and improve memory and cognitive functions, which suggests TMP has a potential clinical value in prevention and treatment of Alzheimer′s disease.