Objective To investigate the effect of mangiferin on the apoptosis of rat primary cardiomyocytes induced by hypoxia. Methods Rat primary cardiomyocytes were separated and cultured under aseptic condition. Cardiomyocytes were treated with hypoxia of 2, 4, 8 and 12 h, and then the time of hypoxia of cardiomyocyte apoptosis model was determined according to the apoptosis outcome.The cardiomyocytes were divided into normal group, hypoxia group and mangiferin intervention group, each group was subjected to 3 batches in parallel, and 3 holes were done in parallel with each batch. After the experiment, cardiomyocytes apoptosis was deteced by flow cytometry;apoptosis protease caspase-3 and caspase-9 activity in cell lysates was detected by spectrophotometry;the protein expression of Bax and Bcl-2 was detected by Western blot. Results After treated with hypoxia for 12 h, the cardio-myocytes apoptosis rate was significantly increased (P < 0.05), the apoptosis protease caspase-3 and caspase-9 activity was increased markedly (P＜0.05), the protein expression of proapoptotic protease Bax was increased notablely (P＜ 0.05 ) , and the protein expression of anti apoptotic protease Bcl-2 was decrease memorably (P＜0.05) in hypoxia group as compared with those in the control group. After mangiferin intervention, above indexes in mangiferin group can be significantly relieved as compared with those in the hypoxia group. Conclusions Mangiferin can significantly inhibit the apoptosis of rat primary cardiomyocytes induced by hypoxia.