Background Studies showed that propentofylline enhances the action of adenosine and protects hippocampal neuronal demage against transient global cerebral ischaemia. Our study was to investigate the effect of propentofylline on hypoxic-ischaemic brain damage in neonatal rat.Methods Seven-day-old Wistar rats were subjected to unilateral common carotid artery ligation and hypoxia in oxygen 8 kPa for two hours at 37℃. Propentofylline (10 mg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally one hour after hypoxia-ischaemia (treated group). Control group rats were received an equivalent volume of saline. The effects of propentofylline were assessed by observing the body mass gain, behavioural alteration and neurohistological changes. The rats were sacrificed at 72 hours after hypoxia-ischaemia, and the brain sections were examined after haematoxylin and eosin staining.Results The propentofylline-treated rats had better body mass gain and better behavioural response than the paired saline-controls did. In the control group, the rats either lost body mass or had little mass gain after the insult, their average body mass gain was 97.3% at 24 h, 100.3% at 48 h, and 114.1% at 72 h of recovery. In propentofylline-treated group, there was a significant improvement of body mass gain at 24 h (100.2%, P