Objective To study the neural protection of Yangxueqingnaokeli in global ischemia and reperfusion gerbils. Method Gerbils were randomly divided into sham group, global ischemia group and global ischemia treated with Yangxueqingnaokeli group.The ischemic model was performed by occlusion of 2VO for 30minutes with reperfusion. The sections were stained by Nissl and immunohistochemistry staining and the data were analysed with SAS soft ware.Results The quantity of the surviving cells in CA1 region of hippocampus increased significantly in the group reperfused for 1 or 2days with Yangxueqingnaokeli treatment compared with the global ischemia group(P<0.01,P<0.05,respectively), but without significant difference between the group reperfused for 5days and the group treated with Yangxueqingnaokeli (P>0.05). The expression of glutamate synthetase in the hippocampus was significantly reduced in the group reperfused for 1 or 2days with Yangxueqingnaokeli treatment compared with the global ischemia group (P<0.01,P<0.05,respectively), without significant difference between the group reperfused for 5days and the global ischemia group (P>0.05), meanwhile the expression of Caspase-3 in the hippocampus was significantly reduced in the group reperfused for 1day with Yangxueqingnaokeli treatment compared with the global ischemia group (P<0.05), without significant difference between the group reperfused for 2 or 5days and the global ischemia group (P>0.05). The treatment also reduced the number of TUNELpositive cells.Conclusion Yangxueqingnaokeli might selectively downregulate the expression of glutamate synthetase to reduce the number of apoptotic cells to play the neural protec