Objective Aim to explore the effect of hyperglycemia on the expression of glucose transporter 1 (GLUT-1)in rats at the acute phase of traumatic brain injury.Methods Adult male SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: normal control group, traumatic brain injury group and insulin treated group.The blood glucose concentration of the rats was measured before and after injury.The expression of GLUT-1 gene and protein in the injured and uninjured cortex was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western-blot.The apoptosis in the injured and uninjured cortex were detected by TUNEL staining.Results The blood glucose concentration increased markedly in traumatic brain injury group.The expression of GLUT-1 gene and protein in the injured cortex decreased in both the traumatic brain injury group and the insulin treated group.In contrast, the expression of GLUT-1 gene and protein significantly increased at 12 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h after injury in the insulin treated group compared with control(P＜0.01).The number of apoptotic cells in the insulin treated group were significantly larger than that in the traumatic brain injury group at each time point(P＜0.01).However, The number of apoptotic cell death remained unchange in the uninjured cortex in each group(P＞0.05).Conclusions The hyperglycemia after traumatic brain injury may increase the apoptotic cells in the injured brain through decreasing the expression of GLUT-1.