Objective To explore the effect of PGE1 on the cognitive impairment and the expression of VEGF and BDNF in the hippocampus after bilateral common carotid artery occlusion in adult rats. Methods Forty-eight rats were randomly divided into PGE1 group (10μg·kg-1·d-1, iv), PGE1+VEGFR antagonist group (PGE1, 10μg·kg-1·d-1, iv;SU5416, 25 mg·kg-1·d-1, ip), saline group and sham group (n=12 each). Morris Water Maze test (MWM) was used to examine cognitive function in rats. Drugs and saline were given to VD rats at 24 d for 7 consecutive days following opera?tion. Half of the rats in each group were sacrificed for Western Blot at 6 days after MWM test. Western Blot was conduct?ed to examine the relative expression levels of VEGF and BDNF in the hippocampus. Results Compared to saline and PGE1+VEGFR antagonist groups, the escape latency in PGE1 group was shorter (P<0.05), and the times that rats swam across the platform location and time percentage in previous platform quadrant in PGE1 group was longer (5.77±0.83 vs.2.88 ± 0.47 vs. 2.63 ± 0.44, P<0.01;32.28%± 4.56%vs. 20.42%± 5.50%, 23.08%± 5.06%, P<0.05). Compared with saline group and sham group, PGE1 group had higher levels of VEGF (0.057±0.005 vs. 0.038±0.002 vs. 0.027±0.002, P<0.05) and BDNF (0.481±0.049 vs. 0.339±0.021 vs. 0.224±0.04, P<0.05). but the increase in VEGF expression in PGE1 group was no significant (0.057±0.005 vs. 0.053±0.003, P>0.05) compared with PGE1+VEGFR antagonist group, while the aug?ment of BDNF in PGE1 group was remarkable (0.481±0.049 vs. 0.373±0.034, P<0.05). Conclusions PGE1 can upregu?late VEGF and BDNF expression and modify cognitive impairment in VD rats, while the effects of PGE1 on cognitive function and BDNF expression can be partially blocked by VEGFR antagonist SU5416.