Objective To observe the therapeutic effects of Xingnao Kaiqiao Acupuncture（醒脑开窍针法） on vascular cognitive impairment of no-dementia（VCIND） patients and its possible action mechanism.Methods A total of 82 patients with VCIND were randomly divided into acupuncture group of 46 cases and western medicine group of 36 cases based on Zelen’s design.Both groups were treated with oral aspirin enteric-coated tablets and atorvastatin calcium tablets as basic treatment.In the western medicine group

donepezil hydrochloride tablets 5 mg were given orally on the basic treatment

once a day

while in the acupuncture group

Xingnao Kaiqiao Acupuncture was given on the basic treatment

twice a day

for 6 days in a week.Both groups were treated for 8 weeks.The scores of Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale（MoCA scale）

Activity of Daily Life Scale（ADL） before and after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment were evaluated.The serum calcitonin gene related peptide（CGRP）

β-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1（BACE1） and their mRNA levels were observed.Clinical efficacy was evaluated after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment.Results After 4 and 8 weeks of treatment

the total effective rates of the acupuncture group were64.86%（24/37） and 89.19%（33/37） respectively

which were higher than those of the western medicine group54.84%（17/31） and 80.65%（25/31）（P < 0.05）.After 4 and 8 weeks of treatment

MoCA and ADL scores of2 groups were significantly improved than those before treatment

and the acupuncture group was superior to the western medicine group（P < 0.05）.After 4 and 8 weeks of treatment

serum CGRP and its mRNA of both groups were increased

and BACE1 and its mRNA were decreased.The improvement of the acupuncture group was better than the western medicine group（P < 0.05）.Conclusion Xingnao Kaiqiao Acupuncture can obviously improve the clinical symptoms of VCIND patients

and its mechanism may be related to the regulation of neuronal vasodilator CGRP and neuronal damage protein marker BACE1 expression.