Pulmonary dysfunction caused by ischemia-reperfusion injury is the leading cause of mortality in lung transplantation. We aimed to investigate the effects of sevoflurane pretreatment on lung permeability, tight junction protein occludin and zona occludens 1 (ZO-1) expression, and translocation of protein kinase C (PKC)-α after ischemia-reperfusion. A lung ischemia-reperfusion injury model was established in 96 male Wistar rats following the modified Eppinger method. The rats were divided into four groups with 24 rats in each group: a control (group C), an ischemia-reperfusion group (IR group), a sevoflurane control group (sev-C group), and a sevoflurane ischemia-reperfusion group (sev-IR group). There were three time points in each group: ischemic occlusion for 45 min, reperfusion for 60 min and reperfusion for 120 min; and there were six rats per time point. For the 120-min reperfusion group, six extra rats underwent bronchoalveolar lavage. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) and pulse oxygen saturation (SpO2) were recorded at each time point. The wet/dry weight ratio and lung permeability index (LPI) were measured. Quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot were used to measure pulmonary occludin and ZO-1, and Western blot was used to measure cytosolic and membranous PKC-α in the lung. Lung permeability was significantly increased after ischemia-reperfusion. Sevoflurane pretreatment promoted pulmonary expression of occludin and ZO-1 after reperfusion and inhibited the translocation of PKC-α. In conclusion, sevoflurane pretreatment alleviated lung permeability by upregulating occludin and ZO-1 after ischemia-reperfusion. Sevoflurane pretreatment inhibited the translocation and activation of PKC-α, which also contributed to the lung-protective effect of sevoflurane.