It has been suggested that isoflurane may cause perioperative liver injury. However, the mechanism of its action remains unknown. The purpose of the present study was to determine this possible mechanism. Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned into one of three groups (all n=12): Control group (exposed to mock anesthesia), isoflurane group (exposed to 2% isoflurane for 90 min), and isoflurane + insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) group (exposed to 2% isoflurane for 90 min and then treated with IGF-1). Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and western blotting were conducted to determine the levels of expression of IGF-1 and its receptor IGF-R. Liver necrosis was assessed by histological examination. TUNEL assay was performed to determine the apoptosis of hepatic cells. In addition, the levels of the proteins caspase-3 and B-cell lymphoma-extra large (Bcl-xL) were measured. Compared with the control group, levels of IGF-1 and IGF-1R mRNA and protein were significantly decreased following exposure to isoflurane (all P<0.05). The necrosis rate and liver apoptosis were significantly increased in the group treated with isoflurane alone compared with the control group (P<0.05), but were significantly decreased compared with the isoflurane group following application of IGF-1 (P<0.05). Additionally, isoflurane exposure significantly increased levels of caspase-3 compared with the control group (P<0.05), but decreased levels of Bcl-xL (P<0.05). By contrast, application of IGF-1 reversed these changes. The present study therefore suggests that isoflurane induces liver injury in part by regulating the expression of IGF-1 and that application of IGF-1 may protect against liver injury induced by isoflurane exposure.