〔Abstract〕 Objective To investigate the effect of quercetin(Que) on brain injury in rats with subarachnoid hemorrhage(SAH) and its mechanism. Methods Internal carotid artery puncture was used to prepare rat models of subarachnoid hemorrhage, and the rats were randomly divided into sham group, SAH group, SAH + Que 50 mg/kg group and SAH+Que 100 mg/kg group with 15 rats in each group. After 30 minutes of successful modeling, quercetin was injected intraperitoneally, and Garcia nerve function scores were performed in each group after 23 hours of intervention. The water content of brain tissue was measured by wet and dry weight method. The blood-brain barrier permeability was measured by Evans blue staining. The proportion of TUNEL-positive and microtubule-associated protein light chain 3(LC3)-positive cells were detected by immunofluorescence staining, and Cleaved caspase-9, Bax, Bcl-2, Nrf2, HO-1 and NQO1 protein levels were detected by Western blot. Results Compared with the sham group, the Garcia neurological score was higher in the SAH group, the brain tissue water content increased. Evans blue content increased, the proportion of TUNEL/NeuN double positive cells increased, the proportion of LC3/NeuN double positive cells increased, cleaved caspase-9 and bax protein expressions were up-regulated, Bcl-2, Nrf2, HO-1 and NQO1 protein expressions were down-regulated. Conclusion Quercetin can reduce brain neurons damage in rats with subarachnoid hemorrhage and improve neural function, and the mechanism may be related to the inhibition of autophagy.