The effects of rehabilitation training on learning, memory and expression of GAP-43 in hippocampus CA1 area of rats with vascular dementia / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the effects of rehabilitation training on learning and memory ability and the expression of growth-associated protein-43(GAP-43)in rats with vascular dementia.Methods Forty-four female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to a rehabilitation group(n=20),an immobilization group(n=20),and a sham-operation group(n=4).The rats in the former 2 groups were operated on to establish the experimental vascular dementia model by repeatedly ischemia/reperfusion injury of brain induced by ligation of bilateral common carotid arteries and lowering of blood pressure induced by intraabdominal injection of sodium nitroprusside.The rats in rehabilitation group were administered with rotating bar and rolling cage exercises for 1 hour once daily,while those in the immobilization group were immobilized and without any exercisethe rats in sham-operation group could move freely in cage.Learning and memory tests were preformed by using step-down avoidance test at the 27th and 28th days after operation.Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect GAP-43 expression in hippocampus CA1 area at different time points after operation. Results The rats in rehabilitation group demonstrated better learning and memory ability than those in immobilization group(P<0.01),and more GAP-43 expression in hippocampus CA1 ar-ea than those in immobilization group and sham-operation(P<0.01).Conclusion Rehabilitation training can im-prove the learning and memory ability of rats with experimental vascular dementia,and the mechanism is probably re-lated to the increase of GAP-43 in hippocampus CA1 area.