Abstract: OBJECTIVE To investigate the protective effect of curcumin on carbon tetrachloride-induced liver injury in rats and its underlying mechanism. METHODS Sixty ♂ SD rats were randomly divided into 6 groups as normal control group, model group, positive control silymarin group(100 mg·kg^-1), curcumin low dose group (25 mg·kg^-1), curcumin middle dose group (50 mg·kg^-1), curcumin high dose group (100 mg·kg^-1). They were given relevant medicines (i.g.) every other day for 30 d. One hours after the final treatment, CCl₄ dissolved in corn oil (20 mg·kg^-1) was administrated intraperitoneally (i.p.) to each group except control group. After the completion of the experiment, food and water were removed 12 h prior to sacrifice. The rats were anesthetized by urethane, and blood was collected from the hepatic portal vein. The activities of AST, ALT and HO-1, the HbCO content in the blood and the scavenging effects of curcumin on DPPH and ABTS were determined. RESULTS Compared with normal control group, the activities of ALT and AST in serum of model group were significantly increased, and the activity of HO-1 in liver tissue and the content of HbCO in venous blood were significantly decreased. Histopathological examination showed that liver injury was increased significantly. Compared with model group, pretreatment of rats with different concentration of curcumin decreased the serum levels of ALT and AST, increased the HO-1 activity and the content of HbCO in the liver, and the liver injury was alleviated in different degrees by histopathological examination. And curcumin exhibited strong scavenging effects on DPPH and ABTS free radicals. CONCLUSION The study demonstrates that curcumin has a potent hepatoprotective function against CCl₄-induced hepatic injuries in rats through the antioxidant effects and the inducing HO-1 and HbCO.