Conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs) are a generic term for linoleic acid isomers and have a variety of biological functions. After rat preadi- pocytes were incubated in CLAs-supplemented media, their proliferation and differentiation were observed by the cell count and the oil red O stai- ning. The results showed that the CLAs at different concentrations inhibited proliferation of the rat preadipocytes in a time- and dose-dependent manner. And the CLAs greatly decreased intracellular lipid content in mature adipocytes. Moreover, lipogenesis was inhibited by the CLAs in a dose-dependent manner. Therefore, the CLAs inhibit the lipogenesis by reducing the number of preadipocytes and decreasing the intracellular lipid