Influence of moxibustion on NR2B and PKMζ after neural stem cell transplantation in the rats with vascular dementia: 艾灸对血管性痴呆大鼠神经干细胞移植后海马NR2B和PKMζ的影响

Abstract

To observe the influence of moxibustion on learning and memory ability in the rats with vascular dementia (VD) and explore the potential effect mechanism. A total of 80 rats, screened by Morris water maze, were randomly divided into a sham-operation group, a model group, a neural stem cells (NSCs) group, a NSCs + piracetam group and a NSCs + moxibustion group, 16 rats in each group. After corresponding treatments, Morris water maze and immunofluorescence technique were adopted to evaluate the therapeutic effect respectively. Comparison among groups after modeling: compared with the sham-operation group, the escape latency was longer (P < 0.01) and the times of crossing platform were reduced (P < 0.01) in the rats of the model group. Comparison among groups after treatment: compared with the model group, the escape latency was shortened (P < 0.01) and the times of crossing platform were increased (P < 0.05) in the rats of the NSCs group. Compared with the NSCs group, the escape latency was shorter and the expressions of the hippocampus NR2B/EGFP and PKMζ/EGFP expression level increased (all P < 0.05) in the rats of the NSCs + piracetam group and the NSCs + moxibustion group (all P < 0.05). Compared with the NSCs + piracetam group, the escape latency was shorter and the expressions of the hippocampus NR2B/EGFP and PKMζ/EGFP expression level were higher in the rats of the moxibustion + NSCs group (all P < 0.05) Moxibustion improves the spatial learning and memory ability of the VD rats and promotes the reconstruction of neurogenesis and synaptic function, which may be related to the up-regulation of the expressions of hippocampus NR2B and PKMζ expressions.