Objective    To observe the protective effect of recombinant plasmid pCDNA3.1(+)/Ngb during focal cerebral ischemia in rat brain．    Methods    Fifty-four male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups: normal saline(NS) control group， plasmid control group，and recombinant neuroglobulin group [pCDNA3.1(+)/Ngb]. NS， plasmid pCDNA3.1(+) and recombinant plasmid pCDNA3.1(+)/Ngb were respectively injected into two sites of the rat cerebra1 cortex 24 hours before induction of neocortical focal ischemia by occlusion of the right middle cerebral artery for 24 hours. The condition of local ischemic damage

expression of bcl-2 and the apoptosis in neural cells were confirmed by staining with 2％ 2.3.5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride，in-site cell apoptosis detection

indirect immunofluorescent staining and Western blotting， respectively．     Results    The extent of cerebral infarction tissue and the apoptosis cells in the pCDNA3.1(+)/Ngb group were significantly reduced than those in other control groups (P0.01)．The number of expression of  bcl-2 cells in pCDNA3.1(+)/Ngb group was much more than that in other control groups (P0.01)．The relative expression level of bcl-2 protein was elevated by 40%-50％.     Conclusion    The neural cells could be protected by recombinant plasmid pCDNA3.1(+)/Ngb during focal cerebral ischemia through up-regulating the expression of bcl-2 gene and retarding the apoptosis of neural cells.