ObjectiveTo observe the protective effect of tanshinone Ⅱ A on the mouse liver ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) model and preliminarily explore its mechanism of alleviating liver injury.MethodsThe IRI mouse model was established after the pre-treating with tanshinone Ⅱ A. Then, the serum and liver tissue of mice were collected to detect the changes of liver function, histopathology, liver cell apoptosis, and inflammatory factors. In addition, the protein expression levels of high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), advanced glycosylation end-product specific receptor (RAGE), and Toll like receptor 4 (TLR4) in the liver tissues were detected by the Western blot method.ResultsAll data were analyzed by the homogeneity of variance test. The results of factorial design showed that the levels of ALT and AST in the serum, the pathological score and apoptosis index, the inflammatory response, as well as the expressions of HMGB1, TLR4 and RAGE proteins in the liver tissues were decreased significantly (P<0.05) in the sham operatation plus tanshinone Ⅱ A mice, which were increased significantly (P<0.05) in the IRI mice, which were antagonized synergistically by the tanshinone ⅡA and IRI (P<0.05).ConclusionsTanshinone ⅡA could reduce the liver IRI and inflammatory response in mouse. These effects might be related to the down-regulations of TLR4, HMGB1, and RAGE expressions.