Abstract: Objective To explore the effect of Acanthopanax senticosus injection (ASI) on brain multi-infract dementia rats. Methods Thirty-six male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups:control group, model group and ASI group. The multi-infract dementia rat mo dels were set up by injecting mini-sludged blood in carotis internal arteries, learning and memory function of rats were determined by Morris water maze and Step-down test, the section of rat cerebral cortex and hippocampus were stained with haematoxylin eosin (HE).Results Compared with model group, latency in ASI group shortened significantly at 2nd,5th and 6th day, the distance shortened at 1st,2nd,5th and 6th day. The seeking tactics of ASI trgated rats improved in the Morris water maze test. The error times of ASI treated rats decreasd at 1st and 2nd day in Step-down test; ASI did not reduce significantly pathological changes of vascular dementia rats. Conclusion ASI has effect of treatment on multi-infract dementia rats.

Key words: dementia, vascu Lar, learning, memory, rats, Wistar