Indian Journal of Animal Research

  • Chief EditorK.M.L. Pathak

  • Print ISSN 0367-6722

  • Online ISSN 0976-0555

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Indian Journal of Animal Research, volume 52 issue 8 (august 2018) : 1141-1145

Effect of Ginkgo biloba extract on cognitive function and neurotransmitter levels in rats with vascular dementia

Jie Wang, Shan Mao, Jian Wang, Yuhuan Jiao, Xiangfeng Zhang, Yingxin Zhang, Zhenhuan Wang, Qinchang Zhang, Shaolin Li
1<p>Department of Neurology, Nanyang the First People&rsquo;s Hospital,&nbsp;Nanyang- 473 000, China.</p>
Cite article:- Wang Jie, Mao Shan, Wang Jian, Jiao Yuhuan, Zhang Xiangfeng, Zhang Yingxin, Wang Zhenhuan, Zhang Qinchang, Li Shaolin (2017). Effect of Ginkgo biloba extract on cognitive function and neurotransmitterlevels in rats with vascular dementia . Indian Journal of Animal Research. 52(8): 1141-1145. doi: 10.18805/ijar.v0iOF.8467.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of Ginkgo biloba extract on the cognitive function and neurotransmitter levels in rats with vascular dementia (VD) and its mechanism of action. 50 male Sprague Dawley rats were selected for this study, and the vascular dementia model was established by permanent occlusion of bilateral common carotid arteries of rats. Of which 40 rats were then divided into four groups (n=10):  vascular dementia group, low-dose, middle-dose and high-dose ginkgo biloba extract groups respectively; another 10 rats were allocated to sham operation group. Rats  in  low, middle and high dose groups were received 5, 10 and 20 mg/kg/d Ginkgo biloba extract via tail vein, respectively, while model group and sham group received an equal volume of normal saline. Morris water maze was used to evaluate the cognitive function of rats. After behavioral observation, these rats were sacrificed for detecting the level of acetylcholine (ACh), dopamine (DA) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in brain tissue. Ginkgo biloba extract can significantly improve the cognitive function of rats with vascular dementia, the mechanism may be correlated with the fact that the extract can obviously increase the levels of ACh, 5-HT and DA, as well as inhibit the activity of AChE.


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