Abstract: 【Abstract】 Objective To study the expression changes of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in the lung of rats with brain ischemia. Methods Adult SD rats were divided into sham operation group and brain ischemia lung injury (BILI) group randomly. Focal cerebral ischemia inflammatory lung injury model was developed with intraluminal thread technique. Lungs were harvested from rats at different time point respectively. RT-PCR (24 h), Western blot (48 h) and immunohistochemistry (72 h) were employed to detect the expressional changes and the distributions of IL-1β in the lung tissues. Results IL-1β immunohistochemical positive reaction was observed in epithelia cell and neutrophil as well as macrophage. Increased protein level and mRNA expression for IL-1β were found in lung after brain ischemia compared with those of sham group. Conclusion IL-1β, as a crucial inflammatory factor, could be associated with airway inflammation in lung following brain ischemia in rats.