Background: The cognitive impairment in menopause with obesity is rising in accompany with the increased prevalence of menopause and obesity. Laser application can improve oxidative stress status and neurodegeneration in hippocampus together with memory enhancement. Therefore, the beneficial effect of laser stimulation at GV20, one of the acupoints commonly used for treating dementia, on memory impairment and neurodegeneration in menopause with obesity has been considered.
Objective: To elucidate this issue, the present study aimed to determine the neuroprotective and memory enhancing effects of GV20 stimulation with red laser on in animal model of menopause with obesity.
Materials and Methods: Female Wistar rats were exposed to the bilateral ovariectomy (OVX) and fed with high fat diet for 16 weeks. Then, OVX rats which fed with diet were exposed to a 10 minute-stimulation with red laser once daily for 14 days. Spatial memory was assessed every 7 days. At the end of study period, acetylcholinesterase activity (AChE), an oxidative stress status and apoptosis were measured.
Results: It was found that GV20 stimulation enhanced spatial memory and neurons densities in CA1, CA2, CA3 and Dentate gyrus of hippocampus. The decreased AChE, MDA and Bax+ cells density together with the increase in SOD, CAT, GPx and Bcl-2+ cells in hippocampus were also observed.
Conclusion: Taken all together, the neuroprotective and cognitive enhancing effects of GV20 stimulation by red laser might occur via the improvements of cholinergic, oxidative stress status and apoptosis.

Keywords: GV20 stimulation, Memory enhancement, Neuroprotective effect, Red laser