OBJECTIVE:To investigate the protective effect and possible mechanism of sodium Danshensu(SDSS) against pressure injury caused by ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)injury.METHODS:Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly di-vided into five groups of eight rats each:control group,model group,10 mg/kg SDSS-treated group,20 mg/kg SDSS-treated group,and 40 mg/kg SDSS-treated group.We used two round ferrite magnetic plates of 15 mm diameter and 3 mm thickness to establish stage 2 pressure injury mod-el rats.Each rat was subjected to five cycles of isch-emia and reperfusion to induce pressure injury.One cycle consisted of 2 h of ischemia and 0.5 h of reperfusion,which meant that each cycle included 2 h of pressure and 0.5 h of pressure relief.The out-line of the wound was delineated by butter paper and marker pen,and histopathological changes were observed by hematoxylin and eosin staining.In addition,the number of apoptotic cells and the activity of caspase-3 were assessed by terminal de-oxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated nick end label-ing and caspase-3 assay kits,respectively.The ex-pression of apoptosis-regulatory proteins and in-flammatory mediators was investigated by en-zyme-linked immunosorbent assay.RESULTS:Results showed that treatment with SDSS for 7 d after establishing the pressure injury model remarkably improved the healing rate of the wound.SDSS also inhibited the levels of tumor ne-crosis factor-α,myeloperoxidase,and intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1;decreased the number of apoptotic cells;increased the ratio of B-cell lympho-ma-2 (Bcl-2)/Bcl-2-associated X (Bax);and regulat-ed the expression and activity of caspase-3.CONCLUSION:Our results suggest that SDSS exhib-its a treatment efficacy for pressure injury caused by I/R injury possibly by inhibiting apoptosis and in-flammatory response.