Objective To investigate the effects of glycine on neuron injury induced by oxygen glucose deprivation (OGD) and the underlying mechanisms. Methods In vitro OGD model was established with cultured rat primary neurons. The study was randomly divided into normal control group, OGD group and glycine treatment group. The influences of glycine on cell activity and survival rate were detected by MTT, and cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry. Western blotting analysis was used to examine the effect of glycine on expression of apoptotic proteins Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, Bad, and Bax. Results Glycine could improve the activity and survival of primary neurons of rats and decrease neuron apoptosis. Glycine also significantly increased anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-2 expression and significantly decreased pro-apoptotic proteins Bax expression (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Conclusion Glycine can notably alleviate neuron injury induced by OGD, which is probably through up-regulation of anti-apoptotic factors and down-regulation of pro-apoptotic factors.