Objective To investigate the protective effect of Sangqi Shouwu(SQSW)on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats.Methods The middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion(MCAO)rat model was constructed and divided into 5 groups:sham operation group,model group,low dose SQSW group(1.2g crude drug/mL),medium dose SQSW group(2.4g crude drug/mL)and high dose SQSW group(4.8g crude drug/mL).Zea Longa assay was used to score neu-ral function,and dry-wet weighing method was used to detect the changes of brain water content.The factors related to oxidative reaction in rats were detected by free immunoassay,the volume of cerebral infarction was detected by TTC staining,the pathological changes of hippocampal neurons were detected by HE,the apoptosis of brain tissues was detected by TUNEL,the expression of re-lated proteins in rat brain tissues was detected by Western blot.Results Compared with model group,SQSW intervention can significantly reduce the neurological function score of rats,reduce the brain water content of rats.Compared with model group,the neuronal pathological changes in hippo-campal CA1 area of rats in SQSW group were significantly reduced,and the apoptosis rate of brain cells was significantly reduced.The relative expression levels of Notch1,Hes1,Bax,Caspase-3 and Caspase-9 proteins in the affected cerebral cortex of SQSW group were significantly decreased.Conclusion SQSW has a protective effect on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats,and its mechanism is related to anti-apoptosis and Notch signaling pathway.