Brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) play vital roles in cerebral ischemia, during which many signal pathways mediate BMECs apoptosis. In this study, we explored the potential role of Wnt3 alpha/beta-catenin signal in BMECs apoptosis induced by ischemia. Here, we found that oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) could induce apoptosis of BMECs with Wnt3a mRNA expression decrease. Meanwhile, activation Wnt3 alpha/beta-catenin signal with exogenous Wnt3 alpha protein (100 ng/ml) or Lithium Chloride (LiCl, 4 mM) decreased significantly apoptosis of BMECs induced by OGD with increasing expression of Bcl-2 in the whole cell and beta-catenin in the nucleus. But, inhibition Wnt3 alpha/beta-catenin signal with DKK1 (100 ng/ml) or 2.4-diamino quinazoline (DQ, 0.2 mu M) increased apoptosis of BMECs with decreasing expression of Bcl-2. These results suggest that activation Wnt3 alpha/beta-catenin signal attenuate apoptosis of BMECs induced by ischemia. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.