Objective To explore the acting targets of Buguzhi Decoction （Decoction of psoralea fruit） in improving the learning memory of vascular dementia （VD）.Methods Sixty SD rats were divided into sham operation group

model group

gingko leaf tablet group

Buguzhi Decoction low dosage group

and Buguzhi Decoction high dosage group

12 rats in each group.Medication was started since the third day after modeling.Two-dimensional electrophoresis was used to separate the total protein in the hippocampus of rats.Image Master software was adopted to analyze the differential protein spots

and protein molecularly imprinted method and immunohistochemical analysis were applied to detect the expression quantity of differential protein.Results The result of two-dimensional electrophoresis experiment shows that

there were 19 differential protein spots found in the total protein of the two Buguzhi Decoction groups

of them

the gray ratio between brain-derived neurotrophic factor （BDNF） and growth associated protein-43 （GAP-43） relating to space learning memory and Trk positive cell count were significantly higher than those of the model group （P<0.05 or P<0.01）.Conclusion Buguzhi Decoction improves the learning memory of VD rats possibly through increasing the expression level of BDNF/TrkB and GAP-43.