〔Abstract〕 Objective To observe the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein(GFAP) in the brain tissue of rats with traumatic brain injury(TBI) and the differential changes between brain regions. Methods The TBI model of rats was prepared by the modified Feeney free fall method, and it was randomly divided into the sham-operated group(Sham group) and the model group(TBI group). Immunohistochemical staining, Western blot and RT-qPCR were used to observe the morphological changes of activated astrocytes and the expression of GFAP in different brain regions after TBI. Results Immunohistochemical staining showed that astrocytes were activated in allbrain regions on the right side of TBI, and the only brain regions that spilled over to the contralateral side(left) were cortical region 1 and midbrain regions. RT-qPCR results showed that GFAP mRNA was highly expressed in all brain regions on the right side of TBI, affecting the contralateral cortex and midbrain regions. Western blot results showed that GFAP protein was highly expressed in all brain regions on the right side of TBI, and it spread to the contralateral midbrain regions. Conclusion TBI can cause the activation of astrocytes and increase GFAP expression in the right brain regions, while also affecting the contralateral(left) cortex 1 and midbrain regions.