Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), an active component of propolis, has many biological and pharmacological activities including antioxidant, anti-inflammation, antiviral action, and anticancer effect. Our previous studies showed that CAPE exhibited significant cytotoxicity in oral cancer cells. Herein we further investigated the cytotoxicity potential of CAPE and the mechanism of its action in C6 glioma cells. The data exhibited that C6 glioma cells underwent internucleosomal DNA fragmentation 24 hr after the treatment of CAPE (50 microM). The proportion of C6 glioma cells with hypodiploid nuclei was increased to 24% at 36 hr after the exposure. Further results showed that CAPE induced the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria into cytosol, and the activation of CPP32. CAPE application also enhanced the expression of p53, Bax, and Bak. Finally, the potential signaling components underlying CAPE induction of apoptosis were elucidated. We found that CAPE activated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERKs) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) in C6 glioma cells. More importantly, p38 kinase formed a complex with p53 after the treatment of CAPE for 0.5 hr. The expression of p53, phospho-serine 15 of p53, and Bax, and inactivate form of CPP32 was suppressed by a pretreatment of a specific p38 MAPK inhibitor, SB203580. The resultant data suggest that p38 MAPK mediated the CAPE-induced p53-dependent apoptosis in C6 glioma cells.