This paper is to report the study of resveratrol-induced apoptosis and its mechanisms in MCF-7 cells.  MTT assay was performed to assess the cytotoxicity of resveratrol on MCF-7 cells. Hoechst 33258 staining was used to observe cellular morphologic changes in apoptosis.  Apoptosis was measured by flow cytometric analysis and the protein expression was examined by Western blotting analysis.  The results indicated that resveratrol could inhibit MCF-7 cell growth in a time- and concentration-dependent manner.  Remarkable morphologic changes in the cells after 60 μmol·L⁻¹ resveratrol treatment, including cell nuclear shrinkage, DNA condensation and apoptotic bodies, were observed by Hoechst 33258 staining.  Resveratrol could induce apoptosis and activate p38 and p53 in a time dependent manner in MCF-7 cells.  In addition, the cell growth inhibitory ratio and the apoptotic ratio of resveratrol-treated group decreased markedly by the p38 MAPK inhibitor SB203580 or p53 inhibitor pifithrin-α.  Further experiments confirmed that resveratrol-induced p53 activation was reduced by SB203580 whereas the activation of p38 was not affected by pifithrin-α.  In conclusion, resveratrol induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells could be through activating p38-p53 signal pathway.