Geniposide, a monomer extracted from gardenia and widely used in Chinese medicine, is a novel agonist at the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor. This receptor is involved in neuroprotection. In the present study, we sought to identify an anti-apoptotic mechanism for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Primary cultured neurons were treated with different concentrations of rotenone for 48 hours. Morphological observation, cell counting kit-8 assay, lactate dehydrogenase detection and western blot assay demonstrated that 0.5 n M rotenone increased lactate dehydrogenase release, decreased the expression of procaspase-3 and Bcl-2, and increased cleaved caspase-3 expression in normal neurons. All these effects were prevented by geniposide. Our results indicate that geniposide diminished rotenone-induced injury in primary neurons by suppressing apoptosis. This may be one of the molecular mechanisms underlying the efficacy of geniposide in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Geniposide, a monomer extracted from gardenia and widely used in Chinese medicine, is a novel agonist at the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor. This receptor is involved in neuroprotection. In the present study, we sought to identify an anti-apoptotic mechanism for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Primary cultured neurons were treated with different concentrations of rotenone for 48 hours. Morphological observation, cell counting kit-8 assay, lactate dehydrogenase detection and western blot assay that 0.5 n M rotenone increased lactate dehydrogenase release, decreased the expression of procaspase-3 and Bcl-2, and increased cleaved caspase-3 expression in normal neurons. All these effects were prevented by geniposide. Our results indicate that geniposide diminished rotenone-induced injury in primary neurons by suppressing apoptosis. This may be one of the molecular mechanisms underlying the efficacy of geniposide in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.