Abstract: 　Objective　To explore the effects of mouse nerve growth factor (mNGF) on expression of metallothionein I/II (MT I/II) and cytochrome C (Cyt C) in hippocampus of pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced epileptic (EP) young rats. Methods Fifty SD rats aged 19 days were randomly divided into control group, EP group, mNGF low, medium, and high dose groups. Each group had 10 rats. Control group was injected with normal saline every day, and EP group was intraperitoneally injected with PTZ 40 mg/(kg·d) for 21 days in succession. The mNGF low, medium, and high dose groups were respectively intramuscularly injected with mNGF 500, 1 000, 2 000 AU/(kg·d) for 7 days in succession after PTZ injection. Changes of body weight, behavioral performance were recorded. The positive cells of MT I/II, Cyt C were examined by immunohistochemisty. The levels of MT I, Cyt C mRNA in hippocampus were measured by real-time PCR. Results The number of MT I/II, Cyt C positive cells and the levels of MT I, Cyt C mRNA in hippocampus had significant differences among groups (F=15.98-105.76, P =0.000). The number of MT I/II, Cyt C positive cells and the levels of MT I, Cyt C mRNA of EP group were higher than those in control group, mNGF low, medium, and high dose groups (P<0.05). The number of MT I/II, Cyt C positive cells of mNGF low group were higher than those in mNGF high dose group (P<0.05). The levels of MT I, Cyt C mRNA of mNGF low group were higher than those in mNGF medium and high dose groups (P<0.05). The number of MT I/II, Cyt C positive cells and the levels of MT I, Cyt C mRNA had no differences between mNGF medium and high dose groups (P>0.05). Conclusions As a stress protein, metallothionein is involved in the process of chronic epilepsy along with Cyt C. mNGF has neuroprotective effects on the hippocampus of epileptic rats in dose dependent manner.