The effect of Tousanshen acupuncture in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease on plasma Tau protein

Objective:To explore the effects of Tousanshen acupuncture in the treatment of Alzheimer disease(AD) on plasma Tau protein． Methods: Fourty patients with AD were divided into observation group and control group (20 cases each group)． The observation group and control group were treated with acupuncture and donepezil by oral，respectively． The mini-mental state examination(MMSE) and plasma Tau protein in two groups were measured before and after treatment． Results:Compared with before treatment，the MMSE of two groups was increased significantly after treatment(P 0． 01)，the MMSE of observation group were significantly higher than that in control group after treatment(P 0． 01)． Compared with before treatment，the plasma Tau protein of two groups was decreased after treatment(P 0． 05)，the differences of plasma Tau protein between the two groups had no statistical significance(P0． 05)． Conclusions:The effects of Tousanshen acupuncture for treating AD are good，the plasma Tau protein decreasing may be the mechanism of acupuncture for treating AD．