ABSTRACT
AIM To study the effects of Naoluo Xintong Decoction (NLXTD) on vascular dementia (VD)rats' memory and learning,and hippocampal neuronal intracellular calcium concentration.METHODS Rats were divided randomly into model group,NLXTD group (8.54 g/kg),Huperzia-A group (0.06 mg/kg) and sham group.They were made into vascular dementia rats by the improved bilateral carotid artery ligation method (2-VO)thereafter if necessary.After one-month corresponding intragastric administration,the rats were ethologically evaluated by the Morris water maze experiment;their fluorescence intensity of hippocampal neuronal intracellular calcium concentration was determined by flow cytometry,and the expression levels of calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) and its hippocampus receptor were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).RESULTS Compared with the model group,rats in NLXTD group displayed overall superiority to those of the model group in terms of significantly shortened time of escape latency (P ＜0.01),significantly increased number through the platform and the times in the fourth quadrant (P ＜ 0.01),a lower fluorescence intensity indicating a lower hippocampal neuronal intracellular calcium concentration (P ＜ 0.05).CONCLUSION The significant improvement of memory and learning observed among VD rats' due to NLXTD intervention may be attributable to its efficacy in reducing the hippocampal neuronal intracellular calcium concentration by enhancing the expression levels of CGRP and its receptor.