Objective To investigate the effects of IGFBP-3, RXRα and STAT-1 on AβSUB>1-42/SUB> induced apoptosis in rat hippocampus neurons. Methods Apoptosis was induced by fibrillar AβSUB>1-42/SUB>. The percentage of neurons apoptosis was evaluated by microscopy after staining with TUNEL/DAPI. IGFBP-3 and RXRα positive neurons were observed by immunofluorescence. The expression of RXRα and STAT-1 protein were detected by Western blotting. Results After treatment with 20μmol/L AβSUB>1-42/SUB> for 24 hours, the apoptotic hippocampus neurons were shown by TUNEL/DAPI assay. The percentage of apoptotic neurons was increased in a time-dependent manner. During the development of apoptosis, both the percentage of IGFBP-3/ RXRα positive neurons and the expression of RXRα protein increased markedly after 3-6hours (EM>P/EM><0.01). However, the expression of STAT-1 protein significantly dec