Aim To explore the change of serum insulin-like growth factor-1 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 and their values of clinic. Methods Serum levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 in sixty cases of acute cerebral infarction(the third day and the fourteenth day)and thirty cases of healthy subjects were measured with two-layer antibody sandwich ELISA. Then analyse the different between the patient and the normal controls. According to the diameter of infarction in the CT or MRI imagines, the patients were divided into three groups: large infarction (diameter≥5 cm), middle infarction(1.5 cm≤diameter<5 cm)and small infarction(diameter<1.5 cm). Then analyze the relation between the range of the infarction and the levels of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 in the serum. Results Serum IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 levels of the patients(the third day and the fourteenth day)are much lower than those of healthy control groups (p<0.001). Serum IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 levels of the patients at the third day are much lower than that at the fourteenth day(p<0.05). The levels of different infarction groups are quite different(p<0.001). Conclusions Therefore serum IGF-1 may play a role in protecting the nerve cell in the area of infarction,and the range of the infarction may affect the serum levels of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3.