Furazolidone (FZD) is a synthetic nitrofuran with the antiprotozoal and antibacterial activity. The proper mechanism of FZD induced toxicity is still unclear. This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of curcumin on FZD induced oxidative stress, DNA injury and apoptosis in human hepatocyte L02 cells. The results showed that curcumin treatment significantly ameliorated FZD induced cytotoxicity, characterized by decreasing the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde, as well as increasing superoxide dismutase, catalase activities and glutathione contents. Moreover, curcumin pretreatment significantly inhibited FZD induced the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, the activation caspase-9 and -3 and apoptosis. Comet assay showed that curcumin attenuated FZD induced DNA injury in a dose-dependent manner. Correspondingly, curcumin markedly reversed the up-regulation of p53, Bax, caspase-9 and -3 mRNA expressions and the down-regulation of Bcl-2 mRNA (all p<0.05 or 0.01). These results reveal that curcumin protects against FZD induced oxidative stress, DNA injury and cell apoptosis via inhibiting oxidative stress and mitochondrial pathway, which may be attributed to ROS scavenging and anti-oxidative ability of curcumin. Importantly, our study highlights that curcumin may be a potential way to prevent FZD-mediated oxidative DNA injury and apoptosis in human or animals.