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Neuroglobin (NGB) is a newly discovered member of the hemoglobin superfamily that is primarily expressed in the brain of humans and other vertebrates. The effects of protein concentration, solvent, pH and temperature on the secondary structure of NGB were investigated by employing far UV circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. The results show that NGB exists mainly in α-helix form when its concentration is less than 10 μmol/L. However, its α-helix content decreases with the increase of concentration in the range of 10–40 μmol/L and remains unchanged when the concentration is higher than 40 μmol/L, which suggest that NGBs form intermolecular disulfide bond and aggregate in higher concentration. The α-helix content of NGB in methanol and ethanol is a little higher than that in water, indicating a higher stability of NGB in these solvents. NGB loses its α-helical secondary structure in either acidic or alkaline solution to some extent. Although increased temperature destabilizes the α-helices of NGB, over 16% of α-helices can be kept at 110°C. Therefore, NGB is a protein with hyperthermal stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]