Clinical Significance of Beclin-1 and Bcl-2 Expressions in CA1 Area of Hippocampus in Vascular Dementia Rats

Objective To observe the expressions of autophagy-related proteins Beclin-1and apoptosis-related pro-teins Bcl-2 in CA1area of hippocampus in vascular dementia model rats.Methods The experimental rats were randomly divided into sham operation group and vascular dementia model group. The model group was divided into five subgroups:1,2, 4, 8 and 12-w group (n=6 for each group). The vascular dementia rat model was established by blocking four vessels.Learning and memory abilities were detected by Morris water maze. The expressions of Beclin-1 and Bcl-2 were detected by immunohistochemistry assay.Results The positive expressions of Beclin-1 and Bcl-2 were detected at 1-w in CA1 area of hippocampus in model rats, which reached the peak at 4-w and began to decline in 8-w, maintained the higher levels at 12-w. There were significantly higher expressions of Beclin-1 and Bcl-2 at all-time points in model group than those of sham operational group (P0.05 or P0.01). The positive expression of Beclin-1 was positively correlated with Bcl-2 at alltime points in CA1 area of hippocampus in model group (r= 0.809, P0.05).Conclusion Results showed that autophagy and apoptosis occurred simultaneously and expressed the same trend in CA1 area of hippocampus of vascular dementia mod-el rats.