Background　Parthanatos is recently discovered as a new form of cell death， which is poly（ADP-ribose）polymerase-1（PARP-1） dependent， related to a number of diseases， different from necrosis， apoptosis， and autophagy. Recently， new studies find that N-methyl-D-aspartate（NMDA） preconditioning can induce a cell survival protein Iduna， which is an endogenous inhibitor to block parthanatos through binding with poly ADP-ribose（PAR） polymer， to against excitotoxicity.　Objective　Summarizing the role of possible pathogenesis of parthanatos，and how iduna as an endogenous inhibitor protect brain by interfering with PARP-1 pathway.　 Content Review the effect of Iduna as an endogenous inhibitor on brain protection through PARP1 pathway and the possible mechanism of parthanatos in brain neurons in recent studies. Trend　With advanced research on Iduna， approaches of clinical therapy on parthanatos-related diseases will be revealed.