Objective To investigate the effect of recombinant intestinal trefoil factor(rITF)on the intestinal mucosa of acute necrotizing pancreatitis(ANP)rats and explore the mechanism.Methods 60 male SD rats were randomly divided into control group(n=20),ANP group(n=20),rITF group(n=20).ANP was induced by retrograde injection of 5%sodium taurocholate(100μl/100 g)into biliopancreatic duct.Rats in rITF group were injected with rITF(0.5 mg/100 g)before and after ANP induction.The rats in ANP group and control group received same amount of normal sailne.Each group were sacrificed 12 h or 24 h later.respectively.Blood sample was taken to determine the serum level of amylase.Terminal ileum was resected to observe the pathologic changes;immunohistochemistry method was applied to detect the activity of NF-κB;the expression of TNF-α mRNA,ICAM-1 mRNA in intestinal mucosa was measured by RT-PCR.Results Intestinal injury score of ANP group was higher than that ofcontrol group(P＜0.05),intestinal injury score of ANP 12 h group was higher than that of rITF 12 h group(P＜0.05),but there was no significant difference between ANP 24 h group and rITF 24 h group.The number of positive NF-κB cells was 26±4,55±8,49±4,respectively;the relatively expression of TNF-α mRNA in terminal ileum was 0.050±0.005,1.040±0.031 and 0.792±0.0256,respectively;the relatively expression of ICAM-1 mBNA was 0.045±0.010,0.795±0.037 and 0.400±0.031,respectively,in control group,ANP group and rITF 12 h group.The corresponding values in the ANP group were significantly increased compared with those values in the control group (P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).Conclusions rITF may protect the intestinal mucosa.the mechanism may include inhibit NF-κB activation,down-regulate TiNF-α mBNA,ICAM-1 mRNA expression.