Objective To explore the influence of tetrahydroxystilbene glucoside ( TSG ) on the neuron proliferation in epileptic rats and the related mechanisms.Methods 54 healthy SD male rats were randomly divided into three groups: sham-operated group, epilepsy group and epilepsy with TSG treatment group.The epilepsy group was established by stereotactic brain trace injection with kainic acid ( KA ) . TSG solution ( 3 mg/kg ) was injected intraperitoneally at 6 hours after the epilepsy group established, and then q.d.for consecutive 42 days.The sham-operated group and epilepsy group were injected with normal saline.The influence of TSG on cell proliferation of rat hippocampal dentate gyrus BrdU-positive granular cells was observed by immunohistochemistry.Results Compare with the epilepsy group, the amount of glial fibrillary acid protein ( GFAP)-positive astrocytes was significantly reduced and dentate gyrus BrdU-positive cells were significantly increased in the TSG group ( P <0.01 ) .Conclusions Tetrahydroxystilbene glucoside ( TSG) promotes neurogenesis of neural stem cells and neurons, and inhibits the growth of hippocampal dentate gyrus astrocytes in epilepsy rats.