Effect of the Chinese Prescription "Bushen Huatan Yizhi"on Learning and Memory Ability of Rat Model of Alzheimer's Disease / 华中科技大学学报(医学版)

ABSTRACT

Objective "Bushen Huatan Yizhi"is a Chinese prescription that can replenish the kidney,remove phlegm and improve intelligence.This study was aimed to examine the efficacy of "Bushen Huatan Yizhi"in the rat model of Alzheimer's disease(AD)and the underlying mechanism.Methods The model of AD was established through injection of β-amyloid pro-tein25-35 (Aβ25-35 )into the left lateral ventricles of Sprague Dawley(SD)rats.Animals were treated with low(12.5 g/kg),medium (25 g/kg)or high(50 g/kg)dose of "Bushen Huatan Yizhi"decotion,twice daily,by gavage.Four weeks later,the Morris water maze and Golgi staining were used to detect the ability of learning and memory and the number of dendritic spines,and Western blotting to measure the levels of N-methyl-D-aspartatic acid receptor1(NR1),subunit 2B(NR2B)and syntaxin in the left hippo-campus.Results Injection of β-amyloid protein25-35 (Aβ25-35 )into the left lateral ventricle of rat could reduce the learning and memory ability of AD rats,which was accompanied by the decrease in the number of dendritic spines and the level of NR2B.These effects could be reversed by addition of "Bushen Huatan Yizhi"at a moderate dose.Conclusion "Bushen Huatan Yizhi"protects against the learning and memory decline of AD rats,possiblely by increasing the number of dendritic spines,reg-ulating their pasticity and upregulating the NR2B level.