Effect of radix salivae miltiorrhizae on apoptosis of hippocampal cells in aging rats brain

Objective To study the effect of Radix Salivae Miltiorrhizae(SM) on apoptosis of hippocampal cells in senescing rtas brain.Methods To identify the morphological characters and percent of neuronal apoptosis in hippocampus with TUNEL(teminal deoxynuleotidyl transferase mediated nick end labeling) and FACS scan meanwhile determine the expression of apoptosis relative genes by immunohistochemical stainning.After intervening the aging group by SM,the effect of SM on spoptosis of hippocampal cells was observed.Results There was typical apoptotic morphological characters in aging group's neuron cells.The percent of neuronal apoptosis in aging group was much higher than that in SM group.The expression of bcl 2 was decreased and bax was increased in aging group significantly.The percentage of neuronal apoptosis consistented with relative genes expression.Conclusions SM was found to inhibit the apoptosis occurring in aging rats hippocampus obviously.