Bee venom acupuncture (BVA), as a kind of herbal acupuncture, involved injecting diluted bee venom into acupoints and is used for pain, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis patients. BVA is growing in popularity, especially in Korea, and is used primarily for pain relief in many kinds of diseases. However, the effect of bee venom anti-inflammatory related action in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced chondrocyte stress have not been reported yet. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of bee venom of cell viability and inflammatory cytokine in rat articular chondrocyte cultures stimulated with lipopolysaccharide. Inflammation was induced in rat chondrocytes by treatment with $10{mu}g/m{ell}$ LPS. The change of cell viability were decreased in chondrocytes after treatment with lipopolysaccharide. The cell viability revealed that BV exerted no significant cytotoxicity in the rat chondrocyte. Bee venom inhibited decreased cell viability in the presence of lipopolysaccharide ($10{mu}g/m{ell}$) in a dose dependent manner(0.1, 0.5, 1.0 and $5.0{mu}g/m{ell}$) at bee venom(p<0.05). Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${alpha}$ production in the presence of lipopolysaccharide($1{mu}g/m{ell}$) was also inhibited in a dose dependent manner (p<0.05 from bee venom $0.1{mu}g/m{ell}$). Interleukin (IL)-6 production in the presence of lipopolysaccharide ($10{mu}g/m{ell}$) was inhibited as well (p<0.05 at bee venom 0.1, 0.5, 1.0 and $5.0{mu}g/m{ell}$, respectively). Our results demonstrate that bee venom was a anti-inflammatory agent of chondrocytes. Bee venom may exert its anti inflammatory effects through inhibition of TNF-${alpha}$ and IL-6 synthesis, and may then pain relief and reduce the articular destruction.