In traditional Korean and Chinese medicine, safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) for the treatment of centralnervous system-related symptoms such as tremor, seizure, stroke and epilepsy. We investigated the effects of safflower couldinfluence cerebral ischemia-induced neuronal and cognitive impairments. Administration of safflower for 1 day(200㎎/㎏ body weight, p.o.) increased the survival of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons after transient global brainischemia. And neurological functions measured as short term memory. Post-treatment with safflower for 2 times decreasedthe induction/reduction - induced production of neuronal cell loss from global cerebral ischemia. Safflower markedlydecreased neuronal cell death and also caused a decrease in the content of thiobarbituric acid-reacting substances(TBARS) (55.2±9.4µmol mg-¹) and significant improvement of activities of glutathione (GSH) (27.2±5.0µmol mg-¹) inhippocampus. We conclude that treatment with safflower attenuated learning and memory deficits, and neuronal cell lossinduced by global cerebral ischemia. These results suggest that safflower may be a potential candidate for the treatment ofvascular dementia.