OBJECTIVE： To study the effects of resveratrol （Res） on cognitive function and SIRT1/NF-κB signaling pathway in neonatal rats with hypoxic-ischemic brain injury. METHODS： SD neonatal rats were randomly divided into sham operation group （normal saline）， model group （normal saline）， Res low-dose and high-dose groups （30， 60 mg/kg）， with 12 rats in each group. Except that sham operation group received sham operation， hypoxic-ischemic brain injury model was established by Rice method in other groups. After modeling， the rats were given relevant medicine intraperitoneally each day， for consecutive 6 weeks. Water maze test was used to analyze spatial learning and memory function of rats in each group. The escape latency after 1， 3 and 6 weeks of administration and the times of crossing platform after 6 weeks of administration were recorded. TTC staining was used to detect cerebral infraction area of rats after 6 weeks of medication. Western blot was used to detect the expression of Bcl-2， Bax， Caspase-3， SIRT1， SIRT1/NF-κB pathway related protein SIRT1 and p-NF-κB in hippocampal CA1 region. RESULTS： Compared with sham operation group， escape latency of rats was prolonged significantly in model group after 1， 3， 6 weeks of medication （P＜0.05）， the times of crossing platform was decreased significantly after 6 weeks of medication （P＜0.05）； the area of cerebral infarction was increased significantly （P＜0.05）； the protein expression of Bax， Caspase-3 and p-NF-κB in hippocampus CA1 region were increased significantly， while the protein expression of Bcl-2 and SIRT1 were decreased significantly （P＜0.05）. Compared with model group， the escape latency of Res low-dose and high-dose groups were shortened significantly after 1， 3， 6 weeks of medication （P＜0.05）， while the times of crossing platform was increased significantly after 6 weeks of medication （P＜0.05）； the area of cerebral infarction was decreased significantly （P＜0.05）， and the protein expression of Bax， Caspase-3 and p-NF-κB protein in hippocampal CA1 area were decreased significantly， while the protein expression of Bcl-2 and SIRT1 were increased significantly （P＜0.05）. The improvement of above indexes in high-dose group were significantly better than low-dose group （P＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS： Res can improve cognitive dysfunction in neonatal rats with hypoxic-ischemic brain injury， which is related with SIRT1/NF-κB signaling pathway.