Objective Observation on moxibustion on apoptosis of rat synovial cells of rheumatoid arthritis effects， and moxibustion heat stimulating effect on their efficacy. Methods 80 male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to groups， model groups， and moxibustion set correctly， HIV-oil groups， each group of 20. Apart from the normal group， and the remaining 3 Group established rheumatoid arthritis rats model. Modeled after the success of group and model groups are not treated properly. Moxa moxibustion group suspended moxibustion；oil group to Folium artemisiae argyi essential oil from Artemisia argyi with smudge. Using TUNEL method moxibustion on apoptosis of rat synovial cells of rheumatoid arthritis effects. Results Synovial apoptosis in model groups compared statistically with the normal group（P<0. 01）. After treatment， moxibustion group， art-oil group synovial apoptosis index of model groups is increased， where the moxibustion group compared with the model groups synovial apoptosis index increased significantly（P<0. 01）， while oil group than HIV. HIV-oil group compared with the model group there are also significant differences（P<0. 05）. Conclusion Moxibustion therapy can induce apoptosis of synovial cells， has a good therapeutic effect on rheumatoid arthritis， while prompting moxibustion heat stimuli might be the main reason for the effect.