Objective To investigate the effect of brain-derived neurotrophic factor on protection of rat hippocampal neurons after cultured with high glucose concentrations.Methods Hippocampal neurons of neonatal SD rat were cultured in serum-free medium and divided into normal group,high glucose group and high glucose BDNF group.The morphological changes of the neurons were observed under inverted fluorescence microscope.Immunofluorescence stain for Map2 was performed to identify the purity of neurons.The survival of the neuron were tested by PI/Hoechest33342 staining.Results Compared with the normal group [survival rate (96.11 ± 1.63) ％],the number of PI positive neurons were significantly increased in the high glucose group [survival rate (76.29 ± 6.74) ％].Treatment with BDNF [survival rate (93.47 ±2.43) ％] significantly reduced the number of PI positive cells.Conclusion BDNF can protect rat hippocampal neurons from apoptosis induced by high glucose.