Objective     To construct the eukaryotic expression vector for human hypoxia inducible factor-1α gene (pSNAV-HIF-1α)

and to investigate the apoptosis and intracellular calcium concentration of the transfected  Aβ25-35 induced hippocampal neurons of primary culture.      Methods     Human hypoxia inducible factor-1α gene from pBSKhHIF1αT7 was inserted into pSNAV2.0 by the method of gene recombination

then the constructed vector was transfected into hippocampal neurons of primary culture and followed by Aβ25-35 for treatment. Empty pSNAV2.0 vector was treated the same way as pSNAV-HIF-1α as a control. The expression level of HIF-1α protein was assayed by Western blotting. Apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry. Intracellular calcium concentration was determined by laser scanning confocal microscopy with Fluo-3/AM as the fluorescent dye.      Results     It was shown that pSNAV-HIF-1α was successfully constructed by restriction enzyme digestion

PCR and DNA sequencing. The expression level of HIF-1α protein was significantly increased in transfected hippocampal neurons of  primary culture (P0.05). The up-regulation of apoptosis and intracellular calcium concentration induced by Aβ25-35 were significantly decreased in transfected hippocampal neurons of primary culture (P0.05).      Conclusion     Human hypoxia inducible factor-1α gene transfection could inhibit Aβ25-35 induced apoptosis of hippocampal neurons of primary culture by suppressing the up-regulation of intracellular calcium concentration.