Objective To investigate the effect of rehabilitation training on learning and memory ability and the expression of neural cell adhesion molecule(NCAM)in rats modeling vascular dementia.Methods Foay-five female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to a rehabilitation group(20 rats),an immobilization group(20 rats),or a sham-operation group(5 rats).The experimental vascular dementia model was established by repeatedly clipping the common carotid artery to induce repetitive isehemia-reperfusion,and by reducing blood pressure with intra-abdominal injection of sodium nitroprusside.The rats' learning and memory were tested on the 27th and 28th days after the operation using a water-maze step-down avoidance test.A RT-PCR technique was used to detect NCAM expression around the hippocampal area at different times after the operation.Results The rehabilitation group rats showed significantly better learning and memory ability than those in the immobilization group.NCAM was also more strongly expressed in their hippocampi than in those of the immobilization group and sham-operation group.Conclusion Rehabilitation can accelerate recovery of learning and memory ability in rats,and the mechanism possibly is related to the increase of NCAM expression in the hippocampus.