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[Background] Chronic alcohol consumption causes cerebral impairment, which is associated with oxidative stress and apoptosis.Carvacrol [CAR, C6H3 (OH) (C3H7)] is a natural component found in various plants of the family Lamiaceae, including the genera Origanum and Thymus.Carvacrol has various pharmacological actions, such as antioxidative stress and anti-apoptosis.However, the involvement of carvacrol in ethanol-induced cerebral impairment remains unclear.Therefore,here,we explored the neuroprotective effects of carvacrol on ethanol-induced impairment in a C57BL/6 mouse model.Methods Male C57BL/6 mice were exposed to 35% ethanol for 4 weeks to establish ethanol model in vivo, and hippocampal neuron injury was simulated by 200 mM ethanol in vitro.Carvacrol was administered by intraperitoneal injection for 4 weeks.Morris water maze test was performed to evaluate the cognitive dysfunction.The oxidative stress injury of hippocampal neurons was evaluated by measuring the levels of oxidative stress biomarkers.Histopathological examinations and western blot were performed to evaluate the apoptosis of neurons.Results The results showed that carvacrol attenuates the cognitive dysfunction, oxidative stress and apoptosis of the mice treated with ethanol and decreases hippocampal neurons apoptosis induced by ethanol in vitro.In addition, western blot analysis revealed that carvacrol modulates the protein expression of mitochondria and p-ERK, without influence of p-JNK and p-p38.Conclusion Our results suggest that carvacrol alleviates ethanol-mediated hippocampal neuronal impairment by antioxidative and anti-apoptotic effects.