Abstract: Objective To investigate the way of the gastric epithelial cell death with stress damage. Methods Water immersion-restraint stress model were performed with SD rats, Apoptotic cells were quantitated in gastric mucosa by terminal deoxynucleatidyl transferase mediared dUTP nick and labelling (TUNEL) techniques and electronmicroscopy while the bcl-2/bax proteins were detected by immuhistochemical staining. Results Comparing with the control groupe, at 2h after the WRS,the mucosa was damaged seriously, the apoptotic quantities rose significantly（P<0.01） , The expression of Bcl-2 Protein significantly decreased （P<0.05）, while Bax increased significantly （P<0.01）, At 24h after WRS, the apoptotic cells gradually declined but failed to return（P<0.05）, the expression of Bax remained significantly higher （P<0.05）but Bcl-2 return to normal level. The electronmicroscopy showed that in contrast to normal mucosa cells, apoptotic cells changes with varies characteristics.Conclusions The apoptosis was an important way of cell death of the gastric mucosa with stress damage.