Objective To explore the effect of breviscapine (BE) on articular cartilage of knee osteoarthritis (OA) in model rats. Methods The knee OA rat model was induced by destabilization of the medial meniscus(DMM), and then the rats were given BE and celecoxib(Cel) by gastric infusion, respectively. Hematoxylin & eosin(HE) staining was used to observe the cartilage injury and cell infiltration in OA rats. Saffron O-solid green staining was used to observe the cartilage injury. Toluidine blue staining was used to observe the cartilage injury. The proportion of collagen-Ⅱ and p-JNK positive cells in the cartilage tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry(IHC) staining, and the concentrations of inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, TNF-α and IL-6 in the serum of rats were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results In the OA group, the thickness of the chondrocyte layer in the knee bone tissue was thinner than that in the sham group(P<0.0001), and the injury of chondrocytes was aggravated(P<0.001). Compared with the sham group, the level of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1β TNF-α and IL-6) was significantly higher (P<0.001), and the positive rate of p-JNK was increased. Compared with the OA group, gastric infusion of BE alleviated DMM-induced cartilage injury in the knee joints of rats(P<0.05), inhibited the levels of inflammatory cytokines(P<0.01) and the positive rate of p-JNK. Conclusion BE could alleviate DMM-induced cartilage injury in OA rats and inhibit the production of inflammatory cytokines. BE might be involved in the regulation of OA chondrocyte injury by regulating the JNK signaling pathway.