Objective:To study the effects of triptolide (TP) on proliferation and apoptosis of hepatocytes in BRL rats  Methods:Culture BRL rat hepatocytes in vitro, and treat the BRL rat hepatocytes with different dosage of TP. The growth and proliferation of BRL rat hepatocytes were detected by cck-8 method. The levels of cultural supernatants ALT, AST, TNF-α, IL-10, IFN-γ were detected, and the percentage of cellular apoptosis were detected using AV/PI double staining  Results:Compared with the control, after treated with different concentration of TP, the cell viability was reduced. The level of AST were significantly rised in all three TP treatment groups while the level of ALT was only significantly rised in TP (100 μmol/L) group. Furthermore, the level of IL-10 was significantly lower in TP (100 μmol/L) group  Conclusion:TP treatment, over a pharmacologic concentration range, could inhibit the hepatocytes proliferation with a dose-effect relationship. The inhibition mechanism of TP may be related with the effect of inducing cellular apoptosis.