Objective To explore the variation trends of interleukin-1β( IL-1β) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) in both normal and affected sides of brain tissues in rats with ischemia-reperfusion injury and the therapeutic action of electroacupuncture.Methods The cerebral ischemia-reperfusion model was established with suture embolization in the right middle cerebral artery.The rats were randomly divided into control group, model group and electroacupunture group.Each group was then divided into six subgroups by the time after operation (12 h,24 h,48 h,72 h,96 h,144 h), ten rats in each subgroup. Frozen sections of brain tissues were prepared and the expression of IL-1βand ICAM-1 in brain tissues of both sides were detec-ted by immunohistochemistry.Results The expressions of IL-1βand ICAM-1 showed typical bimodal pattern in both affected is-chemic region and contralateral normal region.In the model group, the peaks of IL-1βin the cerebral ischemic region were at 12 h and 48 h, while in the contralateral normal region the peaks were at 12 h and 144 h, the expression of IL-1βin the ischemic region was significantly higher than that in the contralateral normal region at 48 h (P<0.05), and lower at 96 h and 144 h (P <0.05).In the electroacupuncture group, the expressions of IL-1βin the ipsilateral region were significantly lower than that in the contralateral region at 24 h, 48 h and 144 h (P<0.05).In the model group, the peaks of ICAM-1 in the cerebral ischemic regions were at 24 h and 72 h, while in the contralateral normal regions the peaks were at 24 h and 144 h.In the electroacupunc-ture group, the expressions of ICAM-1 in the ischemic regions were significantly lower than that in the contralateral normal re-gions at all the 12 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h and 144 h (P<0.05).Conclusions Our findings suggest that electroacupuncture may inhibit the inflammation of ischemia/reperfusion brain tissue through reducing the expression of IL-1βand ICAM-1 to relieve the cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.