Objective：To investigate the effects of panax notoginseng saponins（PnS） on diet induced metabolic dysfunction and ex－pression of inflammatory cytokines in adipose tissue of obese mice and to discuss the function of PnS in improving obesity. Methods：C57BL/6 mice were randomized into standard diet（SD） and high fat diet（HFD）. Ten weeks afterwards，HFD mice were treated with vehicle（HFD-Veh），low doses（100 mg/kg，HFD-PnS 100） and high doses（200 mg/kg，HFD-PnS 200） of PnS while SD mice were treated with vehicle（SD-Veh） and high doses of PnS（SD-PnS 200）. The mice in control group were treated with the same volume of saline. Body weight and fat mass in each group were detected. Serum lipid and glucose levels were detected using automatic bio－chemistry analyzer. Serum insulin and tumor necrosis factor-?琢（TNF-?琢） levels were assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay（ELISA）. The expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein－1（MCP-1） and TNF-?琢 mRNA in epididymis adipose tissue were de－tected by real-time quantitative PCR. Results：Two weeks after treatment with PnS，the body weight，fat mass，serum insulin and TNF-?琢 level as well as the expression of MCP-1 and TNF-?琢 mRNA of obese mice in both high and low dose group were significantly de－creased. The contents of serum lipid and glucose were improved and the effect was better in high dose group than in low dose group. Conclusions：PnS has beneficial effects on diet induced metabolic dysfunction and high doses of PnS are superior to low doses.