The invention relates to an extraction method of an antioxidant and an application in protection of nerve cells against oxidation by utilizing the antioxidant, belonging to the technical field of biological medicines. The extraction method disclosed by the invention comprises the following steps of: taking myricaria laxiflora as a raw material, taking ethanol as an extraction solvent, performing Soxhlet extraction, performing cold leaching on a crude extraction solution with HCl, adjusting the pH with saturated NaCO3, extracting with chloroform, performing chloroform-methanol gradient elution by silica gel column chromatography, performing Sephadex LH-20 gel column methanol elution, and further performing crystallization and re-crystallization to obtain the antioxidant. The antioxidant is identified as 3, 4-dimethoxy-5-methylparaben by 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR, the molecular formula is C10H12O5, and the anti-oxidation property and the free radical scavenging activity are stronger. The concentration of the antioxidant is 0.5-12.5mu g / mL, when the dosage is 100mu L, the toxicity of the natural antioxidant against SH-SY5Y cells is less than 3.4%, the relative survival rate against human neuroblastoma cells SH-SY5Y after oxidative damages by hydrogen peroxide is 50-80%, and the antioxidant has a better anti-oxidation protection effect in comparison with PG (propyl gallate), can be used as a natural non-toxic antioxidant and can be applied to the fields of foods, medicines, cosmetics and the like.