Effect Of Tiaoxin Tongdu Acupuncture On The Expression Of VEGF And Its Receptor Flt-1 In The Hippocampus Of Rats With Vascular Dementia

Objective:To observe the effect of VEGF and its receptor fms-like Tyrosine kinase-1 in vascular dementia rats,so as to explore how to impro ve vascular dementia with Tiaoxin Tongdu Acupuncture.Further discussion about the mechanism of Tiaoxin Tongdu Acupuncture treating vascular de mentia from the aspect of angiogenesis and theoretical and experimental e vidence basis for treating vascular dementia on Tiaoxin Tongdu Acupunctu re will be provided.Methods:A total of 100 healthy adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were elected.After adaptive feeding,using a water maze test to exclude rats of specificity.Then 10 rats were produced as sham operation group which wa s adopted an random number table method while the rest ones were establ ished by permanent ligation of bilateral common carotid artery(2-VO).The successful model rats were randomly divided into four groups:the model group,the western medicine control group,Tiaoxin Tongdu acupuncture grou p and Tiaoxin Tongdu acupuncture with western medicine group,each grou p including 10 rats.The Tiaoxin Tongdu acupuncture group and the Tiaoxi n Tongdu acupuncture with western medicine group were given Tiaoxin T ongdu acupuncture treatment.The treatment consisted of two courses in tot al while each course of treatment consisted of ten times and one time perday.The western medicine group and Tiaoxin Tongdu acupuncture with w estern medicine group were given western medicine treatment,the courses are same as Tiaoxin Tongdu acupuncture group.The western medicine cont rol group were paralleled with sham operation group and model controlled group which fixed rats on the rat plates only and the courses of treatme nt were the same as the Tiaoxin Tongdu acupuncture group.After the treat ment,Morris water maze test was used to determine rats’ learning and me mory abilities.The whole brain slices were taken and the ratio of cerebral infarction was observed by TTC staining.Finally,VEGF and its receptor F lt-1 in the hippocampus of rats were tested by using Western blot.Results:1.Morris water maze test:Comparing with the sham operation group,the learning ability of rats in the model group was decreased obviously(P<0.01),indicating that the modeling was successful.Comparing with the mod el group,the latency period of rats in Tiaoxin Tongdu acupuncture with w estern medicine group and Tiaoxin Tongdu acupuncture group and western medicine group was improved obviously(P<0.01).There was no significant difference between the three groups(P>0.05).In spatial search test,the time of crossing platform of rats in model group were less than the sham ope ration group’s(P<0.01),and Tiaoxin Tongdu acupuncture with western medi cine group,Tiaoxin Tongdu acupuncture group,western medicine group were more than the model group(P<0.05 or P<0.01).These three groups have no difference(P>0.05).2.The ratio of cerebral infarction area:Comparing with the sham opera tion group,the cerebral infarct size ratio of the model group,the western medicine group,the Tiaoxin Tongdu acupuncture group and the Tiaoxin To ngdu acupuncture with western medicine group increased,and the differen ce was statistically significant(P<0.01).Compared with the model group,t he ratio of cerebral infarction area in the western medicine group,the Tiao xin Tongdu acupuncture group and the Tiaoxin Tongdu acupuncture with western medicine group was decreased,and there was a statistically signif icant difference(P<0.01).There was no significant difference in the area of cerebral infarction between these three groups.3.Western blot testing result:Compared with sham operation group,the VEGF and Flt-1 content in hippocampus of model group was significantl y higher(P<0.01 or P<0.05),VEGF and Flt-1 content in acupuncture group an d western medicine group was more than that of model group(P<0.01 or P<0.05).And the Tiaoxin Tongdu acupuncture with western medicine group h ad slightly levels than the other two.Conclusion:Tiaoxin Tongdu acupuncture can significantly improve the rats’ learning and memory ability,reduce the area of cerebral infarction,i mprove the expression of VEGF and Flt-1 in hippocampus,and promote th e repair of nerve damage in the end,which may be one of the mechanism s of action in the treatment of VD rats.It also provides some experimenta l basis for the clinical selection of Tiaoxin Tongdu acupuncture for treating VD.