In order to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of reactive oxygen species(AOS), the cell viability was measured by MTT assay after cultured mouse hippocampal neurons were treated with various concentrations of xanthine oxidase(XO) and hypoxanthine (HX) for 5 hours. And also, the protective effect of Salviae Mutiorrhizae Radix(SMR) on XO/HX-induced neurotoxicity was examined in these cultures. XO/HX significantly decreased cell viability in dose-and time dependent manners when cultured mouse hippocampal neurons were treated with 5～40 mU/ml XO for 5 hours. In the protective effect of SMA, SMR increased cell viability dose-dependently after cultured mouse hippocampal neurons were preincubated with 30～120 ㎍/ml SMR for 2 hours. From these results, it is suggested that XO/HX is toxic on cultured mouse hippocampal neurons, and herbe medicine such as SMR is very effective in blocking the cytotoxicity induced by AOS.