Effect of Electroacupuncture on Long-term Potentiation,Calmodulin and Calmodulin Protein Kinase II mRNA Expression in Vascular Dementia Rats

Objective To observe the effect of electroacupuncture(EA) on long-term potentiation(LTP),calmodulin(CaM) and calmodulin protein kinase Ⅱ(CaMPKⅡ) mRNA expression in vascular dementia rats.Methods Seventy SD rats,half in male and aged 2 months,were randomized into 5 groups: normal group(N =14),pseudo-operation group(N = 14),EA group(N = 12),western medicine group(N = 12),and model group(N =12).EA group were given acup uncture on Baihui(GV20),Dazhui(GV14) and Shenshu(BL23),and western medicine group were given nimoldipine 12 mg.kg-1.d-1.The normal group,model group and pseudo-operation group were fed routinely without any medication.Escape latency and frequency of rats crossing the quadrant of the platform in Morris water maze,in-vivo hippocampal LTP,and neuronal CaM and CaMPKⅡ mRNA expression were observed.Results Compared with the model group,escape latency was shortened,frequency of rats crossing the original and left quadrants of the platform rised,LTP amplitude and duration increased,and neuronal CaM and CaMPKⅡ mRNA expression enhanced in EA group and western medicine group(P 0.05).Conclusion The effect of EA on improving learning and memory ability in VD rats is probably related with the increase of LTP amplitude and duration,and with the increase of neuronal CaM and CaMPKⅡ mRNA expression.