Objective To investigate the effects of three different concentrations of hypertonic sodium salt (HS) resuscitation on liver injury of rats at the early stage of severe burned.Methods 104 female Sprage-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into five groups: sham group (n = 8), lactated Ringer solution (LR) group (n = 24), 600, 800, 1000 mmol/L HS groups (HS600, HS800, and HS1000 groups,n = 24). Rats in LR group and HS groups were subjected to full-thickness scald with 30% total body surface area (TBSA), and then given liquid resuscitation treatment with LR and the corresponding HS. These rats were sacrificed at 2, 8 and 24 hours post injury to collect blood and liver tissue. Rats in sham group were given simulation of burns without resuscitation, which were immediately sacrificed and the specimens were harvested. The levels of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were detected by automatic biochemical analyzer. The levels of liver tissue malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were detected by ultraviolet spectrophotometry. The expression of liver tissue p38 mitogen-actirated protein kinase (p38MARK) was detected by Western Blot.Results Compared with sham group, the levels of ALT, AST, MDA and p38MAPK were increased, and the activities of SOD were decreased in LR group and different degrees in HS groups at each time point after injury. Compared with LR group, the levels of ALT, AST, MDA and p38MAPK were decreased and the activities of SOD were increased in different degrees with HS groups, among which HS600 group changed most significantly [ALT (U/L): 147±52 vs. 227±60 at 8 hours, 138±47 vs. 191±41 at 24 hours; AST (U/L):288±79 vs. 548±237 at 2 hours, 567±167 vs. 841±338 at 8 hours, 515±180 vs. 712±159 at 24 hours; MDA (nmol/mg): 0.287±0.036 vs. 0.395±0.041 at 2 hours, 0.298±0.030 vs. 0.392±0.018 at 8 hours, 0.278±0.033 vs. 0.422±0.036 at 24 hours; SOD (U/mg): 230±16 vs. 159±30 at 2 hours, 251±14 vs. 194±15 at 8 hours, 296±8 vs. 243±11 at 24 hours; p-p38MAPK/p38MAPK (A value): 0.778±0.040 vs. 1.065±0.066 at 2 hours, 0.791±0.046 vs. 0.967±0.041 at 8 hours, 0.733±0.027 vs. 1.020±0.043 at 24 hours; allP < 0.05]. The levels of ALT and AST in HS600 group were significantly lower than those in HS1000 group at 2 hours and in HS800 group at 8 hours. The levels of MDA and p38MAPK in HS600 group were significantly lower than those of HS800 group and HS1000 group, and the level of SOD in HS600 group was significantly higher than that in HS800 group and HS1000 group at each time point after injury. There were no significant differences in all test indicators between HS800 group and HS1000 group at each time point after injury.Conclusions High concentration of HS can reduce the early liver injury in severely scalded rats, of which the curative effect of HS 600 mmol/L is best.