Objective To observe the intervention effect of acupuncture on mammalian target of rapamycin(mTOR) of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy(HIE) model in newborn rats. Methods Seven-day-old SD rats were randomly devided into six groups.Sham-surgery group: the bilateral common carotid arteries were separated, without ligation, and the rats were without hypoxia.HIE model group: the bilateral common carotid arteries were separated and ligated, and the rats were in low oxygen.In the sham-acpuncture group, four positions were acupunctured: from Baihui, Dazhui, Quchi and Yongquan by 1 cm after hypoxia ischemia.In acpuncture group, four positions were acupunctured: Baihui, Dazhui, Quchi and Yongquan after hypoxia ischemia, positioned according to the ordinary acupoints for acupuncture in rats.In the antagonists group, the HIE model rats were injected wortmannin 5 μl to the left ventricle.The acupuncture and antagonists group had the same operations of antagonists group and acupuncture group at the same time.All the groups were subdivided into four subgroups in terms of four time periods of 1 d, 3 d, 7 d and 21 d. The morphological changes of organizational structures of hypoxic ischemia side in brain tissue were observed by pathological methods.The levels of mTOR mRNA expression were detected by RT-PCR. Results In acupuncture group, acupuncture treatment for 21 d showed that acupuncture group had clearly organizational structure, regular arrangements of neurons, normal cell outline, relatively clear nucleolus, mitigated swell neuron and hyperplastic glial cells.Compared with that of the HIE model group, acupuncture treatment increased mTOR mRNA dramatically on day 1, day 3, day 7 and day 21(Q=7.099 1, 9.009 9, 7.894 0, 9.914 7, P<0.05 respectively). The expression of mTOR mRNA in acupuncture and antagonists group was significantly higher than that in sham-surgery group on day 1, day 3 day 7 and day 21(Q=9.868 9, 15.843 4, 21.007 2, P<0.05 respectively). In day 21, compared with the sham operation group and the HIE model group, the expression of mTOR mRNA in acupuncture and antagonists group were significantly higher(Q=18.236 0, 4.729 7, P<0.05 respectively). Conclusion Electroacupuncture treatment can promote the expression of mTOR at the mRNA level and protect brain of newborn rats with HIE. Key words: Electroacupuncture; Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy; PI3-K/Akt signaling pathway; Rats; Mammalian target of rapamycin