Erythropoietin improves proliferation but not differentiation of neural stem cells in vascular dementia rats / 第三军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the effects of erythropoietin (EPO) on the proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells and on the cognition function of vascular dementia (VD) rats. MethodsTotally 45 Sprague-Dawlev (SD) rats were randomly and equally divided into the sham control group, the VD group, and the treatment group. The VD rat model was established by performing cerebral ischemia/reperfusion repeatedly and given an intraperitoneal injection sodium nitroprusside. The rats from the treatment group received an introperitoneal injection of EPO after the establish of VD model, and the animals from the others were treated with normal saline. The learning-memory abilities were measured by using computerized shuttle-training case and the proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells were detected by immunofluorescence staining. ResultsThe active avoidance reaction (AAR) ratio in the VD group was significantly decreased compared with the sham control group (P