Abstract: Objective To study theeffects of rosiglitazone ligands of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ(PPAR-γ) on theexpression of VEGF in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lineSMMC-7721,in vitro andto reveal therelated molecular mechanisms. Methods After treatment with different concentration of rosiglitazone (0, 0.1, 1,10 and 100μmol/L) for different time(24h, 48hand72h), the expressions of VEGF,PTEN, Akt1/2 and P-Akt1 were detected by western blot. Results Rosiglitazonecouldsignificantlyinhibitthe expression of VEGF in SMMC-7721 cells and have both time-dependent and concentration-dependent manner （P<0.05）.Rosiglitazone increasedthe expression ofPTEN remarkably inboth time-dependent and concentration-dependent manner（P<0.05）, but has no influence on theexpression of Akt_1/2 and P-Akt₁. Conclusion This study suggested that activation of PPARγ by rosiglitazone can inhibit the expression of VEGF, which may be through the upregulation the expression level of PTEN while not directly relyingon PI3K/Akt.