Objective To study the effects of transection of inferior alveolar nerve（IAN） on the healing of mandibular fracture by investigating the changes of inflammatory factors expression, including tumor necrosis factor-α（TNF-α）, interleukin-1（IL-1） and interleukin-6（IL-6） in the denervated rabbits’bony callus. Methods 50 Chinese rabbits were randomly divided into the experimental group and control group, the experimental group underwent mandibular fracture and transection of IAN and the control group underwent mandibular fracture only. The bony callus were collected at 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7 d after operation, respectively. The expression of TNF-α, IL-1 and IL-6 in callus was detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay（ELISA）, and the mRNA of TNF-α was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction（RT-PCR）. Results In the experimental group, at the 1st day after operation, the expression of TNF-α（75.1%）, IL-1（68.3%） and IL-6（72.7%） was lower than that in control group（P
