Ｏｂｊｅｃｔｉｖｅ　To investigate the protective effect of sirtuin 1（Sirt 1） agonist， resveratrol（Res）， on the cerebral inflammatory damage in mouse with sepsis-associated encephalopathy（SAE）.　Methods　Sepsis model was induced by cecal ligation and puncture（CLP）. A total of 18 male C57BL/6 mice were divided into 3 groups randomly by the table of randomization： Sham group， CLP group and Res group（n=6）. The brains were harvested 24 h after operation and apoptotic cell death was evaluated by terminal-deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated nick end labelling（TUNEL） staining. The levels of Sirt1， NLR family pyrin domain containing-3 protein（NALP3） and interleukin（IL）-1β in hippocampus or cortex were measured using real-time polymerase chain reaction（RT-PCR）.　Results　The number of TUNEL positive apoptotic cells in the hippocampal region was significantly less in Res group than that in CLP group. The apoptotic cells were more present in CA1 regions than in the cortex. The RT-PCR results showed that the expression levels of Sirt1 mRNA in hippocampus and cortex in Res group were 4.62±0.64 and 4.60±0.61 respectively， significantly higher than that in Sham group and CLP group（P＜0.01）. Levels of NALP3 mRNA in hippocampus and cortex in Res group were 0.86±0.26 and 0.94±0.35 respectively， which were significantly lower than that in the CLP group（P＜0.05）， but similar to that in Sham group. IL-1β mRNA in hippocampus in Res group was 0.57±0.17， significantly lower than in Sham group and CLP group（P＜0.01）. In cortex， IL-1β in Res group was 1.61±0.44， which was similar to that in Sham group and CLP group（P>0.05）.　Conclusions　Inflammation damage mediated by IL-1β occurs during SAE mainly in the hippocampal region compared with that in cortex and resveratrol plays a protective role against SAE.