Passive movement improves the learning and memory function of rats with cerebral infarction by inhibiting neuron cell apoptosis.

Passive movement has been found to improve evidently ischemic stroke patients' impaired capacity of learning and memory, but the optimal time window of initiating the therapy and the underlying mechanism are not fully understood. In this study, the effect of passive movement at different time windows on learning and memory of rats with cerebral infarction was detected. The results showed that the expression of caspase-3 and escape latency in the passive movement group were all considerably lower than those in the model group (P < 0.05), while the expression of Bcl-2 mRNA was significantly higher than those in the model group (P < 0.05). Moreover, we found that there were most significant changes of escape latency and expressions of Bcl-2 mRNA and caspase-3 when the therapy started at 24 h after focal cerebral infarction. These results suggest that passive movement is able to contribute to the recovery of learning and memory of rats with cerebral infarction, which is partially mediated by inhibiting neuron cell apoptosis, and the optimal therapeutic time is at 24 h after cerebral infarction.