Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was investigated in the present study to see whether it could provide a therapeutic opportunity for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). PDGF-hAPP(v7171) transgenic mice were treated with VEGF or PBS by intraperitoneal injection for three consecutive days. The results showed that VEGF ameliorated the memory impairment of mice, accompanied by CD34(+) cells increasing in peripheral blood, vWF(+) vessels increasing in hippocampus, and CD34(+)/VEGFR2(+), vWF(+)/VEG-FR2(+) and BrdU(+)/vWF(+). cells expressing in hippocampus. Furthermore, the level of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) was considerably enhanced and AB deposition was decreased in the brains of mice upon VEGF treatment. These observations suggest that VEGF should be pursued as a novel therapeutic agent for treatment of AD. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.