Objective        To investigate the effect of ecdysterone (EDS) on traumatic brain injury (TBI) in rats.       Methods       A total of 120 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly and equally divided into 6 groups

sham-operation group

TBI group

edaravone treatment group and EDS treatment groups. Modified Feeney’s method was used to establish the rat model of experimental TBI with an impact of a weight of 30 g from 20 cm after craniotomy. Rats of EDS treatment groups were given EDS at 4

8

and 16 mg/kg via peritoneal injection for 7 d. The other 3 groups were treated with normal saline or edaravone (3 mg/kg). The animal death rate was calculated

and the changes of the brain water content

malondialdehyde (MDA)

and superoxide dismutase（SOD）in brain tissue were calculated and measured. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining was used to observe the pathological changes of brain hippocampus tissue.       Results        EDS (16 mg/kg) resulted in significant decreases in the death rate

brain water content

and MDA content (P0.05)

and an obvious increase in SOD content (P0.01) compared with TBI group. EDS (16 mg/kg) also resulted in lesser damage in the brain cells

with the pyramidal cells number significantly higher than TBI  group (P0.01).       Conclusion        EDS exerts therapeutic effect on TBI through inhibiting free radical damage and brain edema.