Aim To investigate the effect of arecoline on inflammation factors expression of RAW 264.7 murine macrophages and the relation with PPARγ.RAW 264.7 murine macrophages were co-incubated with 75 mg/L oxidized low density lipoprotein and arecoline respectively for 24 h.Methods Reverse transcription-PCR was performed to determine the lever of the inflammation factor and PPARγ mRNA expression.Results The cell viability was decreased when culture with the arecoline 10-3 mol/L,but not in the group of arecoline 10-6 mol/L,10-5 mol/L and 10-4 mol/L.The inflammation factor expression in macrophages has no significant difference among control group,10-6 mol/L,10-5 mol/L and 10-4 mol/L arecoline groups.The mRNA levels of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),interleukin-6(IL-6)and intercellular adhesion molecules-1(ICAM-1)was no significant changes when the macrophages was co-incubated with 75 mg/L ox-LDL and 10-6 mol/L arecoline,but they were all decreased in ox-LDL 75 mg/L+10-4 mol/L arecoline group and ox-LDL 75 mg/L+10-5 mol/L arecoline group while the expression of PPARγ mRNA was increased in ox-LDL 75 mg/L+10-5 mol/L arecoline group.Conclusion These results suggest that arecoline could inhibit inflammation factor expression of macrophages,which may be related to up-regulation of PPARγ.