Abstract: Objective To study the inhibitory effect of leptin on 6-OHDA-induced apoptosis of SH-SY5Y cells. Methods A 6-OHDA-induced SH-SY5Y cells damage model was established and treated with leptin. Morphology of SH-SY5Y cells was observed under inverted microscope, viability of SH-SY5Y cells was assayed by MTT, damage of SH-SY5Y cells was detected by LDH, death rate of SH-SY5Y cells was tested with trypan blue staining, apoptosis of SH-SY5Y cells was detected by flow cytometry, fuorescence intensity of active caspase-3 was measured by immunofuorescence and expression levels of Bcl-2 and Bax were measured by Western blot. Results The 6-OHDA-induced SH-SY5Y cells damage model was successfully established. The apoptosis of SH-SY5Y cells was about 15% lower, the survival rate of SH-SY5Y cells was about 14% higher, the damage and death of SH-SY5Y cells and the active caspase-3 concentration were higher, and the Bcl-2/Bax ratio was signifcantly lower after leptin treatment than before leptin treatment (P＜ 0.05). Conclusion Leptin can inhibit 6-OHDA –induced apoptosis of SH-SY5Y cells, which provides the evidence for leptin in prevention of Parkinson's disease.