Abstract: Objective To explore the effect of cajanonic acid A on glucose metabolism of HepG2 cells and its mechanism. Methods HepG2 cells were cultured in vitro and administered with cajanonic acid A at different doses of 10^-3, 10^-4, 10^-5 and 10^-6 mol/L.The glucose consumption of HepG2 cells was detected with glucose oxidase-peroxidase enzyme method and the activity of sugar metabolism related enzymes hexokinase(HK)and pyruvate dehydrogenase(PDH)were detected with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA)24 hours after the administration. Results For the HepG2 cells treated with 10^-3, 10^-4 and 10^-5 mol/L cajanonic acid A, the glucose consumption were 8.650±0.319, 8.231±0.182, and 8.136±0.402 mmol/L, respectively, and were all significantly higher than that of the control group (6.521±0.056 mmol/L)(P < 0.05).The HK contents were 882.91±30.72 and 718.25±20.67 pg/mL in the HepG2 cells treated with 10^-3 and 10^-4mol/L cajanonic acid A and were significantly higher than that of the control group (616.65±17.24 pg/mL).The PDH content was 1 526.69±66.74 pg/mL in the HepG2 cells treated with 10^-3 mol/L cajanonic acid A and significantly higher than that of the control group (1 204.73±55.72 pg/mL)(P < 0.05). Conclusion Cajanonic acid A can promote glucose uptake of HepG2 cells in vitro and has hypoglycemic effect;the effects may be associated with the enhanced the activity of glucose metabolism enzyme-hexokinase and pyruvate dehydrogenase.