Abstract: Objective To observe the potential roles of autophagy induced by Resveratrol(Res) in rats model of focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion（I/R）injury. Methods Rats were randomly divided into sham-operated group（S group）, cerebral ischemia-reperfusion group (I/R group), low and high dose of Res pretreatment (15 and 40 mg/kg) group (R1 and R2 group); and R2 group were randomly sub-divided into R2+3-MA group and R2+Sirtinol group. The focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusiong (I/R) rats models were established by the middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) using intraluminal suture method. Nissl’s staining was used to observe the pathological changes of brain tissue; 2, 3, 5- triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) straining was used to observe infarct volume; Real-time QPCR and Western blot assessments were performed to analyse the mRNA and protein expression of microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 (LC3) and mammalian sir2-related protein 1 (Sirt1), respectively. Results Compared with S group,I/R group showed obvious focal cerebral infarct,pathological damage change and autophagy related protein LC3 II/LC3 I, Sirt1 expression increased. Res pretreatment can significantly alleviate the pathological injury of rat cortical area, reduce the infarction volume (P<0.01) and increase the expression of LC3 II/LC3 I and Sirt1 (P<0.01); while the Sirt1 inhibitor and 3-MA can weaken the effect of Res. Conclusions Resveratrol enhance autophagy through activation of SIRT1 pathway and autophagy induction plays an important role in the neuroprotection of resveratrol in rats model of focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion（I/R）injury.

Key words: Key Words: Cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury, Resveratrol, Autophagy, Sirt1