Objective:To study the expression and diagnostic value of staining glial fibrillary acidic protein(GFAP) and neurofilament protein(NF) after primary brain-stem injury. Methods:The cases that definitely died of the primary brain-stem injury and other disease were selected randomly(65 cases). All cases were divided into experimental group(25 cases) and control group(20 cases died of cardiovascular disease and 20 cases died of other disease).The brain-stem tissues were cut and stained by hematoxylin-eosin and immunohistochemical GFAP and NF,the data were analyzed. Results:Compared with the control group,astrocyte appeared acute reaction and axon showed distinctive changes in brain-stem tissues. There were significant differences in astrocyte quantity and axonal diameter of brain-stem tissue between the experimental group and the control group(P < 0.05). Conclusion:The above histopathologic changes might be valuable for autopsy pathological diagnosis of primary brain-stem injury. With the measurement of astrocyte quantity and axonal diameter,we provide a referenced quantization index for diagnosis of primary brain-stem injury.