Medicinal plants are widely used for therapeutic purposes as their side effects are comparatively less. The genus Symplocos belonging to the family Symplocaceae comprises of 300-500 species. Members of Symplocos are traditionally used for the treatment of diarrhea, liver complaints, inflammation, skin diseases and uterine disorders. Recently, due to their diverse biological activities, Symplocos laurina has attained much attention. In our present study, we compared the neuroprotective effect of the ethanolic extracts of leaf and bark of S. laurina against methyl mercury (MeHg) induced neurotoxicity using rat mitochondrial fractions. Also, the antioxidant enzymes of fresh leaves of the plant were determined. The results demonstrated that MeHg decreased mitochondrial viability in MTT assay and the IC50 value was found to be 2.5 μg/mL. However, a 100 μg/mL dose of ethanolic extracts of leaf and bark of S. laurina effectively prevented the mitochondrial damage caused by MeHg. Our results also demonstrated that MeHg significantly inhibited catalase enzyme activity and glutathione content and that the level of Thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances was increased in mitochondrial-enriched rat brain fractions. These alterations were prevented by the preincubation with ethanolic extracts of leaf and bark of S. laurina. In addition, these extracts also reduced GSH levels caused by MeHg, confirming its chelating effect of these extracts is one of the molecular mechanisms that underlies protection against oxidative damage. The leaves of S. laurina showed a consistent increased enzymatic activity in the 10 μl concentration for all assays performed for antioxidant enzyme activity. From our study, it is inferred that both the ethanolic extracts of leaf and bark of S. laurina have potential neuroprotective effects against MeHg in rat brain mitochondrial enriched fractions. © 2015, Global Research Online. All rights reserved.