Objective:Accumulating experimental and clinical studies provide clear evidence for reversibility of hepatic fibrosis (HF).Apoptosis of activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) has proven critical to fibrosis regression,but its mechanisms remain to be clarified.The objective of this study was to validate the apoptotic effect of ligustrazine on rat stellate cells in vitro,and elucidate the molecular mechanisms that underlie this action.