The relationship between auricular acupuncture and behavioral test and expression of STAT1 of cerebral cortex in vascular dementia rat

Objective: To study the mechanism of auricular acupuncture for improvement of learning and memory disorders in the rat of vascular dementia(VD). Methods: Male wistar 30 rats were randomly divided into three groups: normal control group, model group,ear acupuncture group,the vascular dementia model of rat was performed by 4-vesselocclusion method, learning and memory abilities of rats in 3 groups were evaluated with Y-type were test. Immunohistochemical method was used to detect the expression of STAT1. Results: Auricular needling could lower significantly the STAT1 immunoreactive neurons and higher its average light density in cerebral cortex in model rat(P0.05).Conclusion: Auricular needling could reduce or inhibit the over-production STAT1 in brain, improving the learning and memory capacity of VD model rats.