Abstract: The anomaly of adipocyte proliferation and differentiation plays a key role in the development of obesity, cardiovascular disease and non-insulin-dependent diabetes. 3T3-L1 preadipocyte is a well-accepted model cell for study on adipogenesis. Recently the proliferation and differentiation of adipocytes have become a hot research topic. In this paper, the in vitro culture of 3T3-L1 preadipocyte, mechanisms regulating 3T3-L1 preadipocyte proliferation and differentiation and the application thereof in the evaluation of functional components are reviewed with the purpose to provide some references for the prevention and therapy of obesity and diabetes mellitus.

Key words: 3T3-L1 preadipocytes, proliferation, differentiation, functional components