Objective To explore the inhibitory effects of Corilagin on the production of proinflammatory cytokines in microglia induced by radiation. Methods The cytotoxicity of Corilagin was measured by MTT assay. Microglia BV-2 cells were irradiated 0 or 32 Gy after pretreated with Corilagin for 12 hours. Realtime-PCR was used to detect the mRNA levels of inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1β,TNF-α on several time-points. The content of nitric oxide (NO) was determined with nitrate reductase method. The translocation of NF-κB was measured by Western blot and immunocytochemical stain.Confocal microscopy was used to observe the expression of Iba-1 and Nemo. Results No cytotoxicity was detected on BV-2 cells with 1-10 μg/ml Corilagin. Iba-1 expression in microglia cells was activated by irradiation, the expression levels of inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1β, TNF-α and NO were also elevated. Whereas, the production of IL-1 β, TNF-α in activated microglia cells was significantly inhibited with 5 μg/mL corilagin ( tIL-1β = 6. 341, tTNF-α = 3.41 1, tNO = 3. 134, P ＜ 0. 05 ). Corilagin significantly inhibited the expression of Nemo and the translocation of NF-κB p65. Conclusion Corilagin could inhibit the activation of irradiated microglia cells and down-regulate the expression of inflammatory cytokines, via inhibition of the NF-κB signaling pathway.