Abstract: AIM: To study the cerebra damaged by long-term administration of prednisone, and investigate the preventive effects of compound danqi (CD) in rats. METHODS: 40 SD rats were randomly divided into 5 groups with 8 rats each group.Group 1 was control (NS group), other groups were oral gavages prednisone (2.7 mg·kg^-1 ·d^-1) first, and then plus vehicle (GC group), or plus CD at dose of 2.5, 5.0 or 10.0 g·kg^-1·d^-1, respectively, once a day for 12 weeks.At the experimental endpoint, animals were drawn blood from right ventricle under anesthesia.The left half cerebrum was milled in 10 % homogenate to test the content of mono-amine oxidase (MAO), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and acetylcholinesterase (AchE).The right half cerebrum was for histological observation. RESULTS: The concentration of SOD and AchE decreased, yet MAO increased significantly in GC group.Moreover, histopathology showed that the structure of cerebrum cortex became thinner and hippocampi was in disorder.Dropsical and necrotic nerve cells were found.Yet CD could prevent the changes of nerve centre in prednisone tats. CONCLUSION: Cerebra damage occurs in four-month-old male Sprague-Dawley rats after prednisone-treated for 12 weeks.The treatment of CD in different dose can prevent the damage.

Key words: prednisone, cerebra damage, glucocorticoid, rats