Objective：To observe the clinical effect of tanshinone IIA(Tanshinone IIA， TSA)for gene expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α(Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1α，HIF-1α)in neonatal rats with hypoxic-ischemic brain damage(Hypoxia ischemic brain damage， HIBD).Methods：Divided seven-day-old SD rats randomly into 5 groups： the sham operation group，the model group，the low-dose treatment group，the medium-dose treatment group，the high-dose treatment group，12 rats in each group.The sham operation group was given no ligature for free left common carotid artery，while other groups were built HIBD model.The doses of TSA in the low-，medium-and high-dose treatment groups were 40 mg/kg，80 mg/kg and 160 mg/kg respectively.Observed the behavioral changes of neonatal rats after modeling by behavioral indexes，detected the expressions of HIF-1α in each group by fluorescence quantitative PCR，and observed the pathological changes of brain tissue through HE staining.Stained HIF-1α with in situ immunohistochemical staining and compared the positive expression under microscope.Results：There was no difference in the behaviors of rats in the sham operation group before and after treatment，and other groups all showed behavioral abnormalities.Compared with the model group，the behavior in the treatment group recovered quickly，and the higher the TSA dose， the better the recovery.Compared with the sham operation group，the expression of HIF-1α gene in the model group was significantly increased(P＜0.05)；compared with the model group，the HIF-1α gene expression in the treatment group was more，and the higher the dose，the more the expression level of HIF-1α，differences being significant(P＜0.05).Conclusion：TSA can protect brain tissue by up-regulating the expression of HIF-1α，and its protective effect is positively correlated with the expression of HIF-1α.The incremental dose of TSA within a certain range can increase the expression of HIF-1α.