〔Abstract〕 Objective To investigate the effect and mechanism of ABT-737-mediated apoptosis in Caenorhabditis elegans( C. elegans) of living animals. Methods Fluorescent dye method was used to detect the apoptosis of germ cell in wild-type C. elegans under different concentrations of treatment. Meanwhile,reactive oxygen species( ROS) fluorescent strain together with different gene mutant strains of C. elegans were used to elucidate the mechanism of ABT-737-induced apoptosis. Results After treated with ABT-737 at concentrations of 0,10,and 20μmol/L,the number of apoptotic cells in wild-type C. elegans increased from 2. 31 ± 0. 06 to 4. 02 ± 0. 09 and4. 40 ± 0. 08. However,there was no change of apoptosis in C. elegans lacking the expression of the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway( MAPK/JNK pathway,mek-1/jnk-1) and DNA damage response pathway( egl-1,hus-1,cep-1) genes. In addition,ABT-737 increased the fluorescence intensity in the SOD3 fluorescent strain,indicating the ROS level was increased in C. elegans. Conclusion ABT-737 induces apoptosis of C. elegans germ cells in a dose-dependent manner at the level of live animals. Oxidative stress,DNA damage response pathway and MAPK/JNK signaling pathway are involved in ABT737-induced apoptotic signaling.