Objective：To study the changes of hepatic caspase-3 and caspase-8 activities during liver regeneration in rats. Methods： Liver regeneration model was produced by 70% partial hepatectomy （PH） in male SD rats. Then the rats were sacrificed and the liver homogenate were prepared. Hepatic caspase-3 and caspase-8 activities were determined at 8 different time points during the liver regeneration at the absorbance of 405 nm. Results： Hepatic caspase-3 activity increased significantly 3 h, 6,72 h, 120 h and 168 h after PH compared with that of control group（P〈0. 001）; Hepatic caspase-8 activity increased 168 h after PH（P%0.05） and had no obvious change at any other time points. Conclusion： Our result suggests that the increase of caspase-3 activity during the liver regeneration may be mainly induced by the mitochondrial pathway.