Objective To investigate the possible neuroprotective effects of N-acetyl-L-tryptophan（L-NAT） in cerebral ischemia/hypoxia injury. Methods The ischemia/hypoxia injury models were made in 90 pups of seven days old gerbil.The death of neurons was evaluated by Fluoro-Jade B（FJB）staining and the activations of Caspase-9 and Caspase-3 were evaluated by immunofluorescent staining and Western blotting. Results Our results showed that L-NAT treatment decreased the number of FJB positive cells after middle cerebral artery occlusion in mice. And L-NAT also inhibited the expressions of Caspase-3 and Caspase-9. Conclusion Our work demonstrated that L-NAT had