Abstract： Objective To observe the effects of age on angiogenesis in ischemic hindlimb of rat and its relationship with human antigen R.Methods Male SD rats were divided into two groups:the elderly group (18 months) and young group (16 weeks).Unilateral hindlimb ischemia was deliberately manipulated by excising the entire femoral art and vein in left femoral of animals.After 14 days of surgery,the ischemic and adductor muscle tissues from hindlimb were initiated with immunostain by the endothelial marker CD31.The western blot was used to detect the expression of human antigen R (HuR) protein; vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results The capillary counts showed that the angiogenesis situation of elderly group was significantly worse than that of the young group ( P ＜ 0.05 ).The HuR protein expression in elderly group was significantly lower than that in the young group ( P ＜ 0.05 ) ; VEGF levels in elderly group decreased significantly,compared with the young group (P ＜0.05).Conclusion The inhibition effect on angiogenesis may increase when one is getting old,which may be related to the decreasing of HuR protein and a decline in VEGF expression.