BACKGROUND: Although a specific and satisfactory therapeutic method for vascular dementia(VD) has not been developed, it is important to prevent VD by effectively avoiding risk factors, prevnting cerebrovascular accident(CVA) or preventing the recurrence, development and complications in patients with CVA. Exploring the effective mechanism for VD treatment with electroacupuncture method is one of the hot is suse in the study of VD therapy. OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of electroacupuncture on learning and memory abilities and the apoptosis of cerebral cells in rats with VD DESIGN: A randomized and controlled experimental study. SETTING: Acupuncture and Massage Vocational College and College of Basic Medical Sciences, Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. MATERIALS: Sixty female and male(half-half) healthy adult SD rats, weighing 200-250g, were provided by the Research Center of Laboratory Animals, Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. METHODS: VD model of four-vessel occlusion was made in healthy SD rats from the Experimental Animal Center, Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Morris water maze tests were used for place navigation test and spatial probe test. The apoptosis of nerve cells in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus were also tested with TUNEL method. RESULTS: The escape time(Latency) of rats in model group(58.08