Objective To study the protective effects of propofol against ischemia/reperfusion injury in rat lung. Methods Rat model of pulmonary ischemia/reperfusion injury was used in this study. Rats were randomly divided into three groups, including sham opera-tion group (group A), iachemia/reperfusion group (group B) and propofol group (group C), 15 rats in each group. The concentration of tumor necrosis factor -α and interleukin-6 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Then blood gas analysis, lung wet/dry (W/D) weight ratio were detected in each group. Results Propofol could significantly improve PaO2, reduce the W/D value and the contents of TNF-α and IL-6 in BALF. Conclusion Propofol effectively suppressed the pro-duction and release of inflammatory cytokine, therefore it can protect the lung from isehemia/reperfusion injury.