Study Design An in vitro study to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of fullerol on mouse dorsal root ganglia (DRG) under TNF-α induction. Objective To evaluate the potential of a free radical scavenger, fullerol nanoparticles, to prevent DRG tissue and neuron inflammatory responses under TNF-α induction in vitro. Summary of Background Data Low back pain is one of the most common reasons for clinician visits in western societies. Symptomatic intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is strongly implicated as a cause of low back pain as it results in DRG inflammation. Increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is associated with DRG inflammation. Methods With or without fullerol treatment, DRG tissue and DRG neurons isolated from wild type C3H/HeNCrl mice were cultured under TNF-α induction. The amount of intracellular ROS was measured with H2DCFDA fluorescence staining. Cellular apoptosis was detected via terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay. The expression of inflammatory as well as anti-oxidative enzyme genes in neurons was analyzed by real-time PCR. In addition, inflammatory cytokine expression in DRG tissue was determined by immunofluorescence staining and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results Fluorescence staining results indicated that TNF-α markedly increased the production of intracellular ROS and the number of apoptotic cells. Under fullerol treatment cellular apoptosis was reduced along with concomitant suppression of ROS. The expression of inflammatory cytokines IL-1 β, IL-6, COX-2, and PGE2, was also inhibited by fullerol in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, fullerol-treated cells exhibited up-regulation of anti-oxidative enzyme genes SOD2 and catalase. Conclusion The results obtained from this study clearly suggest that fullerol treatment suppresses the inflammatory responses of DRG and neurons, as well as cellular apoptosis by decreasing the level of ROS and potentially enhancing anti-oxidative enzyme gene expression. Therefore, fullerol has potential to serve as a novel therapeutic agent for low back pain treatment.