Objective：This study aims to explore the effect of vitamin A（VA）on the autistic model rats which were induced by sodium valproate（VPA）. Methods：The 12.5 d pregnant Wistar rats were given intraperitoneal injection of VPA（600 mg/kg） or normal saline. Then the male offsprings were randomly divided into three groups：control group（VPA，n=11），vitamin A treatment group（VPA+VA，n=12）and saline group（SAL，n=11）. On the 7th day after birth，rats in the VPA+VA group were given VA（50 000 U/2.5 kg）by gavage for 7 days，other two groups were given the same amount of soybean oil by gavage for 7 days. Three groups of rats were tested the vitamin A levels in blood in the the 21st day and the 49th day after the birth. The experiments as open-field，three chamber experiment，marble bury and water maze tests in the 35th day after birth were carried out among 3 groups of rats. Results：Compared with the SAL group，repeated behavior and the spontaneous activity level were increasing significantly in the VPA group，the social intercourse ability，spatial learning and memory ability were decreasing in the VPA group（P < 0.05）. After vitamin A treatment，compared with the VPA group，the social ability，spontaneous activity，the spatial learning and memory ability were obviously improved in the VPA+VA group（P < 0.05）. However，there were no significant improvement on the repetitive behavior of VPA+VA group（P > 0.05）. Conclusion：Vitamin A partially improves the behavior of VPA-induced autistic model rats.