Objective To explore the effect of elemene on the proliferation of human gastric cancer cell line SGC-7901 and p38MAPK signal pathway.Methods SGC-7901 cells were treated with various concentrations of elemene.MTT assay was used to detect the proliferation.The morphological changes were observed under light microscope and transmission electron microscope.The expression of P38 and phosphorylated P38 (p-P38)was detected by Western-blot.Results Elemene exerts a potent inhibitory effect on the growth of gastric cancer cells SGC-7901 in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner.The representative morphological changes of apoptosis were seen under light microscope and transmission electron microscope,p-P38 increased by 3.72-folds following treatment of SGC-7901 cells with 0.08 mg/ml elemene for 4 hours,compared with controls,the differences were significant(P ＜0.01).At the same time,the total P38 abundance did not change.Pretreatment of SGC-7901 cells with SB203580,the inhibitor of p38MAPK signal pathway,lowered the level of p-P38 by 54.12%,compared with controls,the differences were significant(P ＜0.01).Conclusions Elemene inhibits the proliferation of gastric cancer cells SGC-7901 and induces apoptosis possibly by activating p38MAPK signal pathway.