Hydroxysafflor yellow A improves learning and memory in a rat model of vascular dementia by increasing VEGF and NR1 in the hippocampus

• Published in: Neuroscience bulletin 2014-06, Vol.30 (3), p.417-424
• Main Authors: Zhang, Nan, Xing, Mengya, Wang, Yiyi, Liang, Hao, Yang, Zhuo, Shi, Fudong, Cheng, Yan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anatomy; Anesthesiology; Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Carotid Artery Diseases - complications; Chalcone - analogs & derivatives; Chalcone - therapeutic use; Dementia, Vascular - complications; Dementia, Vascular - etiology; Disease Models, Animal; Electric Stimulation; Gene Expression Regulation - drug effects; Hippocampus - drug effects; Hippocampus - metabolism; Human Physiology; Learning Disorders - drug therapy; Learning Disorders - etiology; Learning Disorders - pathology; Long-Term Potentiation - drug effects; Male; Maze Learning - drug effects; Memory Disorders - drug therapy; Memory Disorders - etiology; Memory Disorders - pathology; Neurology; Neurosciences; Original; Original Article; Pain Medicine; Quinones - therapeutic use; Random Allocation; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Reaction Time - drug effects; Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate - metabolism; Time Factors; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A - metabolism; VEGF; 大鼠模型; 海马; 空间学习; 羟基红花黄色素A; 血管内皮生长因子; 血管性痴呆; 记忆
• ISSN: 1673-7067; 1995-8218
• DOI: 10.1007/s12264-013-1375-2

Hydroxysafflor yellow A （HSYA） has angiogenesis- regulating and neuro-protective effects, but its effects on vascular dementia （VaD） are unknown. In this study, 30 adult Sprague-Dawley rats were. randomly allocated to five groups： normal, sham-operation, VaD alone （bilateral carotid artery occlusion）, VaD plus saline （control）, and VaD plus HSYA. One week after operation, the HSYA group received one daily tail-vein injection of 0.6 mg/100 g HSYA for two weeks. Five weeks after operation, the spatial memory of all five groups was evaluated by the water maze task, and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus was assessed by the long-term potentiation （LTP） method. Vascular endothelial growth factor （VEGF） and N-methyi-D- aspartic acid receptor 1 （NR1） expression in the hippocampus was detected via Western blot. We found that, compared with the group with VaD alone, the group with HSYA had a reduced escape latency in the water maze （P 〈0.05）, and the LTP at CA3- CA1 synapses in the hippocampus was enhanced （P 〈0.05）. Western blot in the late-phase VaD group showed slight up-regulation of VEGF and down- regulation of NR1 in the hippocampus, while HSYA significantly up-regulated both VEGF and NRI. These results suggested that HSYA promotes angiogenesis and increases synaptic plasticity, thus improving spatial learning and memory in the rat model of VaD.