Gastrodia elata (GE) is a oriental medicinal herb which has been used traditionally for the treatment of various brain diseases including convulsion and epilepsy. In orde r to examine the mechanism of anticonvulsive effect, we treated the methanol extract of GE (500mg/kg, P.0) to the pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced convulsive rats. Methanol extracts of GE significantly inhibited (35%) the convulsion state as well as the level of lipid peroxidation (25%) in the brain. The ether fraction of methanol extracts among the others effectively ibhibited in vitro lipid peroxidation dose dependently ($5.O{ imes}10^{-6}{sim}2.O{ imes}1O^{-5}g/ml$). The scavenging effect on hydroxy radicals was found in all the fractions of ether, butanol, and dichloromethane. These results suggest that the anticonvulsive effect of GE is possibly due to the antioxidative effects of the active components in GE.