The effect of Butylphthalide on expression of p38 MAPK in hippocampus of Alzheimer's disease rats induced by Aβ_(1-42)

Objective To explore the effects of Butylphthalide on learning,memory and expressions of P-p38 MAPK and P-tau in hippocampus of Alzheimer's disease(AD) rats.Methods 32 SD rats were randomly divided into blank group,AD model group,Butylphthalide low dose group and Butylphthalide high dose group(n = 8).Aggregated Aβ1-42 was injected into the bilateral hippocampus of rats by stereotaxic coordinates method to induce AD,Morris water maze test was used to determine the ability of learning and memory,Western Blot method combined with Gel Doc imagine systems was used for investigating the expression of P-tau,P-p38 MAPK in hippocampus of AD rats.Results The learning and memory abilities of rats in AD model group,in Butylphthalide low and high dose groups,were significantly lower than those of rats in the blank group a week after modeled(P 0.05).The learning and memory abilities of rats in Butylphthalide low and high dose groups after treatment for 4 weeks increased significantly(P 0.05),it was especially obvious in high dose group(P 0.05).Compared with the blank group,the expressions of P-tau and P-p38 MAPK increased significantly in Butylphthalide low,high dose groups and model group in hippocampus(P 0.05),especially in model group(P 0.05).Compared with the model group,the expressions of P-tau and P-p38 MAPK decreased significantly in Butylphthalide low and high dose groups of hippocampus(P 0.05),it was much lower in the high dose group than inlow dose group.Conclusion Butylphthalide might raise the learning and memory abilities,markedly attenuated P-tau protein through P-p38 MAPK in the hippocampus of AD rats.