Background Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) can cause brain damage through a number of pathways.The purpose of the study was to explore the effect of thrombin, protease nexin-1 (PN-1) and protease activated receptor-1 (PAR-1) in rat and human cerebellum after ICH.Methods A model of ICH was produced in adult Sprague-Dawley rats by direct injection of autologous blood (50 μl) into caudate nucleus.Patients with injured hemorrhage were also enrolled in this study.Different expressions of thrombin,PAR-1, PN-1 were detected in rat and human cerebellum by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization.Results In rat cerebellum, thrombin protein significantly increased at 6 hours and reached the maximum 2 days afterICH.The expression of PAR-1 protein reached the maximum at 24-48 hours, and then began to decrease.The expression of PN-1 protein reached the maximum at 3 hours, decreased somewhat after that and increased a little at 5days after ICH.While in human cerebellum, the changing tendency of thrombin, PAR-1 and PN-1 was almost conform to the rat.Conclusion In cerebellum, thrombin can activate PAR-1 expression after ICH, and PN-1 appears quickly after ICH in order to control the deleterious effect of thrombin.