Aim The effects of tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) on vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) proliferation were studied. Methods A cells proliferating model of rabbit aorta VSMC induced by thrombin were established; the effect of tetramethylpyrazine on c-myc gene expression in VSMC was observed by immunocytochemical method; the effect of tetramethylpyrazine on proliferation cycle of VSMC was observed by flow cytomytry technique. Results the highly expression of c-myc gene protein induced by thrombin can be inhibited by tetramethylpyrazine significantly, and the cells numbers of G1 phase were increased and the cells numbers of G1+M phase were decreased markedly. Conclusion The VSMC proliferation induced by thrombin can be inhibited by tetramethylpyrazine significantly, and the inhibited c-myc gene expression may contribute to the explanation of one of the mechanism of the inhibited VSMC proliferation.