Objective To observe the effect of aerobic exercise preconditioning on growth-associated protein-43 (GAP-43) and Nogo-A in rats after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion. Methods Sprague-Dawley rats were equally divided into sham group (n=40), cerebral ischemia/ reperfusion group (n=40) and aerobic exercise preconditioning group (n=40), and global cerebral ischemia model was formed with modified four-vessel occlusion. The rats was sacrificed six hours, one day, three days and seven days after ischemia, respectively. The hippocampus neural cells were observed in five rats with HE staining and immunohistochemistry of GAP-43 and Nogo-A, and the other five rats were tested with RT-PCR of GAP-43 and Nogo-A. Results Compared with those in the cerebral ischemia/reperfusion group, the apoptotic neurons and expression of GAP-43 significantly increased all the time points in the aerobic exercise preconditioning group (P<0.01), while the expression of Nogo-A decreased (P<0.01). Conclusion Aerobic exercise preconditioning can promote the regeneration of neuronal cells and axon after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury, which is related to the regulation of GAP-43 and Nogo-A.