Institution: | aDepartment of Neurology, The Second Hospital of Shandong University, 247#, Beiyuan Dajie, Jinan 250033, PR China;bKey Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Experimental Teratology, Department of Histology and Embryology, Shandong University School of Medicine, 44#, Wenhua Xi Road, Jinan 250012, PR China |
Abstract: | Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was investigated in the present study to see whether it could provide a therapeutic opportunity for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). PDGF-hAPPV717I transgenic mice were treated with VEGF or PBS by intraperitoneal injection for three consecutive days. The results showed that VEGF ameliorated the memory impairment of mice, accompanied by CD34+ cells increasing in peripheral blood, vWF+ vessels increasing in hippocampus, and CD34+/VEGFR2+, vWF+/VEGFR2+ and BrdU+/vWF+ cells expressing in hippocampus. Furthermore, the level of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) was considerably enhanced and Aβ deposition was decreased in the brains of mice upon VEGF treatment. These observations suggest that VEGF should be pursued as a novel therapeutic agent for treatment of AD. |