Effects Of Electroacupuncture On Learning And Memory Impairment And Expression Changes Of PCREB Protein In Rat Hippocampus

Objective By observing the effects of electroacupuncture(EA) on the learning and memory abilities as well as the expression changes of pCREB protein in hippocampus of rats with induced learning-memory disorder, to probe partial mechanism of EA therapeutic effects on learning and memory.Methods 72 SD rats were randomly divided into two groups: the sham-operated controls group (n=10) and the operated group(n=62). The operated group was used to establish an animal model of learning memory disorder, induced by repeated cerebral ischemia-reperfusion . After modeling, 62 rats were also randomly divided into such six groups as model group(n=10), 2Hz EA group(n=10), 15Hz EA group(n=10), 50Hz EA group(n=10),100Hz EA group(n=11) and 2/15Hz EA group(n=11) for comparison treatment. The EA treatment was performed on Baihui(DU 20) and Yamen(DU 15) acupoints everyday, continuously for 2 weeks, continuous wave, 1-4mA, 30 minutes once. After 14 days' treatment, the Morris water maze test was chosen to assess spatial learning and memory abilities. Used hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining to observe the histopathological change of the neurons in hippocampus and the expression of pCREB protein in hippocampus were examined by means of immunoblotting and computer image analysis.Results Compared with the sham-operated group, the operated groupshowed obvious learning disorder, there was a significant difference(P<0.05,P<0.01) between them in the achievement of escape latency andsearch strategies in Morris water maze. However, the number of passing throughthe original platform and the percentage of swimming time in the platform...