This study investigates the effect of structural differences on the stability and cellular antioxidative activity of anthocyanins from Lycium ruthenicum Murr..We isolate and identify four kinds of anthocyanin compounds from L. ruthenicum by semi-prepared HPLC.We use the spectrometer tests to evaluate the stability,Cell viability assays and oxidative injured SH-SY5Y cells by H₂O₂ are used to evaluate the cellular antioxidative activity.Then we discuss the effect of chemical structures on the stability and antioxidative activity.The results demonstrate that the trans structure has better stability than the cis structure under neutral and weakly alkaline conditions;molecular simulation shows that the trans structure,the increase of sugar and the methoxy substitution on the B ring can improve the stability by shortening the molecular distance between core and sugar moiety.Besides,cellular activity experiments indicate that increased sugar moiety can significantly reduce lactate dehydrogenase in damaged cells,and the trans structure has more activity advantages than the cis structure.In conclusion,the structural differences of anthocyanins affect stability and cellular antioxidative activity,whereas the increase of sugar groups and trans structure of acyl groups have a more positive meaning for both.