AIM Oxidative stress resulting from accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is involved in cell death associated with neurological disorders such as stroke, traumatic brain injury and brain tumor.Antioxidant compound, that to improve endogenous antioxidant defenses has 2been proposed for neural protection.The purpose of the present study was to investigate the potential protective effects of total saponin in leaves of Panax notoginseng (LPNS), on H2O2-induced oxidative stress and cell death in brain cell damage in vitro.METHODS LPNS was used to analyzed for its anti-oxidation effects on H2O2-induced cytotoxicity by LDH assay and H2O2-induced ROS formation, the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthetase (iNOS), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrt2)and its downstream reactive gene heine oxygenase-I (HO-1) were detected by Western blot in primary rat astrocytes.The oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD)-induced cytotoxicity and H2O2 induced morphological modifications in sh-sy5y, a neuronal cell line, were also observed.RESULTS In primary rat cortical astrocyte cells, LPNS dose-dependent reduction of the cell death by lactate dehydrogenase assay.Similar protection was found in sh-sy5y cell damage caused by transient exposure to OGD.The protective effects of LPNS on astrocyte were associated with Nrf2 nuclear translocation and upregulated expression of antioxidative systems regulated by Nrf2 such as HO-1, attenuation of the ROS accumulation and inhibited the expression of iNOS.CONCLUSION These results demonstrate for the first time that LPNS has antioxidative stress which may has protective effects on neurological disorders.