Abstract: Objective To evaluak the therapeutic effects of early enteral nutrition ( EEN ) togather with recombinant human growth hormone ( rhGH) on severely scalded rats. Methods One hundred and thirty Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups, i. e. normal ( group N , n = 10) ,control( group C,n =40) , early enteral nutrition(group EEN , n =40) and early enteral nutrition with rhGH ( group EEN + rhGH ,n =40). The rats in C, EEN and EEN + rhGH groups were subgected to 30% TBSA Ⅲ degree scald on the back. The changes in body weight, hemoglobin, white blood cell count, total protein, albumin, morphology of ileal mucosa, serum levels of endotoxin and TNFα were observed on 1 ,3,5,9 postburn day ( PBD). Results (1 ) The rat body weight in C group decreased significantly ( P <0.05~0.01 ), while that in EEN+ rhGH group recovered more rapidly than that in other groups. ( 2 ) The serum endotoxin levels in EEN and EEN + rhGH groups were lower than that in C group( P <0.01), while that in EEN + rhGH groups was slightly lower than that in EEN group. (3) The serum TNFa levels in EEN group and EEN + rhGH group were lower than that in C group ( P <0.01) , while that in EEN + rhGH group was lower than that in EEN group on 3 and 9 postburn days( PBDs) ( P <0.05 ~0.01) . (4) The serum levels of total protein in EEN+ rhGH group was higher than that in EEN group on 9 PBD( P < 0.05). (5) The serum levels of albumin and blood hemoglobin levels exhibited no obvious differences among all the groups. (6) Intestinal mucosal injury and necrosis were only observed in C group. Imflammatory reaction was observed in EEN group, and the villous height in EEN + rhGH group was obviously higher than that in the other groups. Conclusion The structure and function of intestine in severely scalded rats could be maintained and the hypermetabolism reaction could be alleviated by early enteral nutrition, and EEN togather with rhGH seemed fohave better resulls than that of EEN alone.