Aim To explore the effect and its possible mechanism of resveratrol on atherosclerosis. Methods 42 Mature male New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into three groups: rabbits in blank group treated with normal diet, rabbits in model group treated with high fat diet, rabbits in resveratrol group treated with high fat diet and resveratrol at the dosage 16 mg/（kg·d）. All rabbits were fed according to experiment design for 12 weeks. The aortas were harvested for histopathological examination. Apoptosis was detected by TUNEL, the mRNA transcription of PPARγ, Fas, FasL and Caspase-3 were examined by RT-PCR and MCP-1, MMP-9 and TIMP-1 were examined by ELISA.