Recent studies have demonstrated that acupuncture is feasible to treat vascular dementia (VD). The aim of this study was to present behavioral evidence that acupuncture could improve the learning and memory of multi-infarct dementia rats. The pattern of multi-infarct dementia in rats was made by injecting homogeneous emboli into the internal carotid artery. Of them the rats which showed damage in learning and memory (n = 43) were randomly allocated to 3 groups: impaired group (n = 14), acupuncture group (n = 15) and placebo-acupuncture group (n = 14). Moreover, normal group (n = 15) and sham-operated group (n = 15) were set as control groups. The acupuncture group was given acupuncture, which consisted of Tanzhong (CV17), Zhongwan (CV12), Qihai (CV6), Zusanli (ST36) and Xuehai (SP10). Morris water maze test was employed to assess spatial discriminational ability per group respectively and to analyze the curative effects of acupuncture. Compared to the impaired and placebo-acupuncture groups, no cognition impairment was found in the normal and sham-operated groups, and the statistic analysis showed that there were significant differences between normal and impaired groups in ANOVA. Shortened mean escape latency was detected in the acupuncture group compared with the impaired group during the same trial days. Search strategy changed from random pattern adopted by impaired and placebo-acupuncture rats to tendency or linear pattern popular in normal group. The present results suggested that the acupuncture exerted a protective effect on cognitive impairment caused by cerebral multi-infarction in rats, and acupuncture has a specificity of cure. Acupuncture as a potential clinic method in treating VD should be developed and investigated in the future.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of acupuncture on cognitive deficits and oxidative stress in cerebral multi-infarction rats. The results showed that acupunctural treatment attenuated memory impairment induced by cerebral multi-infarction, as evaluated by shortened escape latency and increased swimming time of rats with memory impairment in the target quadrant. The data additionally suggested that acupunctural treatment ameliorated oxidative injuries induced by cerebral multi-infarction by increasing the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in the hippocampus. Further investigation by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry revealed that acupunctural treatment significantly increased the expression of CuZnSOD mRNA and protein in the hippocampus of the impaired rats. The findings demonstrate that acupuncture can exert beneficial effects on spatial memory and antioxidant status of cerebral multi-infarction rats.

Objective: Recent studies have suggested that acupuncture can ameliorate some symptoms commonly associated with vascular dementia (VaD). The study was carried out to observe the clinical therapeutic effects for VaD of ‘yi qi tiao xue, fu ben pei yuan’ acupuncture method (supplementing vital force-matter and regulating blood, supporting the root and fostering the source). Methods: Sixty inpatients with VaD were randomly assigned to the treat group (TG) or control group (CG). Both the TG and the CG received routine treatment as other inpatients with VaD, including medication and traditional acupuncture treatment. After that, the TG was given the treatment of ‘yi qi tiao xue, fu ben pei yuan’ acupuncture, which included five body acupoints, namely, tanzhong (CV17), zhongwan (CV12), qihai (CV6), zusanli (ST36) and xuehai (SP10). The Treatment was performed once daily for 6 weeks. The mini-mental status examination (MMSE), the revised Hasegawa’s dementia scale (HDS-R) and activities of daily living (ADL) exam were carried out before and after the experiment, to evaluate therapeutic effects of the acupuncture method. Results: The MMSE, HDS-R and ADL scores were significantly improved in the TG and CG (p<0.001). But the overall scores of MMSE and HDS-R for the subjects in the TG were notably higher than those in the CG (p<0.05). Patients in the TG showed remarkable improvement in memory, orientation, calculation and self-managing ability in daily living after treatment. The total effective rate was 80.0% in the TG versus 46.7% in the CG, where significant difference between the two groups exhibited (p<0.05). Conclusions: These results suggested that ‘yi qi tiao xue, fu ben pei yuan’ acupuncture method had significant therapeutic effects and well tolerated in ameliorate the key clinical symptoms of VaD.

The senescence-accelerated mouse strain P6 (SAMP6) is an inbred mouse that represents a clinically relevant model of senile osteoporosis. However, whether osteoporotic SAMP6 mice have cognitive deficits remains largely unexplored. Here, we used Morris water maze to assess reference memory and working memory performance in SAMP6 mice and SAMR1 controls, at 4 and 8 months of age. In addition, unbiased stereological techniques were used to estimate total neuron number in hippocampal CA1 subfield of the mice used in the behavioral study. Morris water maze test revealed impairments in working memory but not in reference memory of the 4- and 8-month-old SAMP6 mice compared with the SAMR1 mice at the same age. However, there were no significant differences in the total numbers of neurons in hippocampal CA1 subfield when comparing 4-month-old SAMR1 and 4-month-old SAMP6 and 8-month-old SAMR1 and 8-month-old SAMP6, which indicate that, in SAMP6 mice, the structural correlates of working memory deficits are to be found in parameters other than the number of neurons in hippocampal CA1 subfield. These findings suggest that SAMP6 mice exhibit selective cognitive deficits and highlight the importance of this mouse model for studying the brain alterations associated with osteoporosis.

目的 对多发梗塞性痴呆(MID)大鼠模型加以改进，并探讨针刺对其行为学和形态学的影响。方法 采用栓子注入法制作MID模型，应用穿梭箱实验观测大鼠学习能力的变化，HE染色分析海马CA1和CA3区的病理变化，并分析针刺的作用。结果 造模后大鼠海马区受损明显，学习记忆能力下降。针刺干预可明显逆转上述异常改变。结论 经改进后的MID大鼠模型是进行血管性痴呆基础研究和疗效评价的理想模型。

目的：探讨多发梗塞性痴呆大鼠脑内抗氧化酶活性的变化及针刺的干预作用。方法：通过栓子注入法制作多发梗塞性痴呆模型，随机分为模型组、针刺组和非穴组，并设正常组和假手术组作对照。观察各组大鼠海马区丙二醛(MDA)含量、超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)、过氧化氢酶(CAT)、谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶(GSH-Px)活性的变化情况。结果：与正常组比较，模型组海马MDA含量明显升高，SOD及GSH-Px活性明显下降，CAT活性无明显变化。针刺可明显逆转上述异常改变，与正常组比较无显著差异。结论：SOD/GSH-Px途径在多发梗塞性痴呆大鼠脑内抗氧化体系中占居主导地位，CAT可能不是脑内主要的抗氧化酶。针刺通过提高SOD/GSH-Px活性在脑内发挥抗氧化作用，这可能是其治疗血管性痴呆的重要机制。

目的：观察熏脐法治疗男性勃起功能障碍的疗效。方法：61例患者随机分成熏灸神阙治疗组35例和男宝对照组26例，治疗30天。结果：临床疗效前者明显优于后者（P＜0.01）。对治疗前后生殖激素测定，治疗组血清FSH显著增高（P＜0.05），E2显著下降（P＜0.05）。结论：熏脐法可能通过调节下丘脑—垂体—性腺轴达到治疗目的。

目的：探讨针刺治疗血管性痴呆的作用机理。方法：通过栓子注入法制作多发梗塞性痴呆模型，随机分为模型组、针刺组和非穴组，并设正常组和假手术组。应用原位杂交和免疫组化的方法检测痴呆大鼠海马区CuZnSOD的基因表达情况，并分析针刺的干预作用。结果：与正常组比较，模型组大鼠海马区CuZnSOD mRNA及蛋白表达下降（P＜0.01）；针刺组可明显增强其表达水平（P＜0.01），与正常组及假手术组比较无显著性差异。结论：针刺在转录和翻译水平上均可上调CuZnSOD的表达水平，从而增强抗氧化酶活性，以有效地清除自由基，改善痴呆大鼠的智能状态。

目的：探讨针刺对多发梗死性痴呆(MID)大鼠一氧化氮(NO)/一氧化氮合酶(NOS)的影响。方法：MID大鼠随机分为模型组、针刺组和非穴组，并设正常组和假手术组。观察各组大鼠血清及不同脑区NO含量、NOS活性及各脑区神经元型NOS (nNOS)基因的表达。结果：与正常组比较，模型组大鼠血清、皮质、海马NO含量升高，海马及纹状体NOS活性升高，各脑区nNOS mRNA及蛋白表达增强。针刺可明显逆转上述异常改变。结论：针刺可抑制MID大鼠nNOS的过度表达，降低NOS活性，减少NO的产生，从而通过NO/NOS途径起到一定的神经保护作用。