Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of body building and spirit fostering exercise training on the cognitive function and blood pressure in the Stroke Prone spontaneously hypertensive rat(SHR/SP) with vascular dementia (VD). Method The VD model was established by a permanent ligation of bilateral carotid artery (2-VO) in male SHR/SP rats. The VD model rats were randomly divided into model group(M group), body building group(B group), spirit fostering group(S group ) and body building & spirit fostering group(BS group) (n=10) respectively. The B group was trained by using treadmill training, S group was trained by using enriched environment, BS group was trained by using treadmill training and enriched environment. After 8 weeks, Morris maze tests were conducted for valuating the learning- memory abilities, the blood pressure was measured using a tail cuff method. Result In place navigation training, the latency of BS group was less than other groups, the latency of B group and S group were less than that of rats in model group, there was not different between B group and S group (P<0.05); In spatial probe ability test, the frequency of crossing platform and the ratio of time spent in the target quadran of rats in BS group were significantly higher than other groups, the frequency of crossing platform and The ratio of time spent in the target quadran of rats in B group and S group were higher than M group (P<0.05), there was not different between B group and S group (P<0.05); the blood pressure in BS group was lower than other groups, the blood pressure in B group was lower than S groups and M group, there was not different between S group and M group (P<0.05). Conclusion Combination of the spirit and body exercise training is one of the important thoughts of the basic TCM theory, the training under guidance of the theory can improve the cognitive function and blood pressure in SHR/SP rat VD model.

Key words: Vascular dementia, SHR/SP, Rats, Exercise training, Enriched environment, Blood pressure, Combination of the Spirit and the Body