ObjectiveTo investigate the anti-inflammatory mechanism of sodium aescinate in preventing postoperative intestinal adhesion in rats. MethodsThe SD rats were subjected to operation for establishing intestinal adhesion models, then randomly divided into model group, dexamethasone group(dexamethasone, i.v. 5 mg/kg), and sodium aescinate group(sodium aescinate, i.v. 2 mg/kg), 10 rats in each group. Another ten normal rats were selected as sham operation group. One times administration was administered on day 1 before establishing adhesion model, and administration for 3 d after modeling, once a day. On day 7 after operation, all of the rats were killed. The intestinal adhesion was graded and the adhesive tissues were taken for hydroxyproline determination. The levels of tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α, interleukin(IL)-1β, and IL-6 in the serum were detected by ELISA. ResultsCompared with the model group, sodium aescinate could obviously improve the severity of postoperative adhesion, markedly decrease hydroxyproline content in the adhesive tissues(P < 0.01), and significantly inhibit the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 in the serum(P < 0.01). ConclusionSodium aescinate could effectively prevent the formation of postoperative intestinal adhesion by inhibiting the expressions of inflammatory cytokines and decreasing the inflammatory response.