Abstract: Objective To observe the effect of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on magnetic resonance spectroscopy of vascular dementia (VD) rats.Methods After the VD model was reproduced, the 12 rats were randomly divided into the therapy group and dementia group with 6 animals in each group. Another 6 rats were selected as sham operation group. The VD rats in therapy group were treated with bFGF by hypodermic injection. After 5 weeks, abilities of learning and memory of three groups' rats were tested by Morris water maze. The changes of magnetic resonance spectroscopy and N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), NAA/（Cr＋Cho） in lobus temporalis of VD rats were also observed.Results Abilities of learning and memory of rats significantly improved in the therapy group than that in the dementia group (P<0.01). The values of NAA, NAA/（Cr＋Cho） in lobus temporalis of VD rats significantly increased in the therapy group than that in the dementia group (P<0.01).Conclusion bFGF by hypodermic injection can obviously elevate abilities of learning and memory and the values of NAA, NAA/（Cr＋Cho） in lobus temporalis of VD rats.

Key words: basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), vascular dementia, rat, magnetic resonance spectroscopy