Abstract： Objective To investigate the effect of acupuncture combined with aerobic exercise on obese rats and its mechanism of action.Methods Among 45 Sprague-Dawley rats,8 were randomly selected as blank group,and the rest of the rats were fed with high-fat diet for 8 weeks to establish a rat model of obesity.Five rats with unsuccessful modeling were removed,and the rats with successful modeling were divided into model group,acupuncture group,exercise group,and acupuncture-exercise group,with 8 rats in each group.All rats except those in the blank group and the model group were given acupuncture and exer-cise intervention measures for 8 weeks.Body weight was monitored for the rats in each group;HE staining was used to observe liver histomorphological changes;ELISA was used to measure the serum levels of total cholesterol(TC),triglyceride(TG),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C),high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C),interleukin-1β(IL-1β),interleukin-6(IL-6),and adenosine triphosphate(ATP);Western blot was used to measure the protein expression levels of phosphorylated liver kinase B1(p-LKB1),phosphorylated adenylate-activated protein kinase(p-AMPK),and acetyl-CoA carboxylase(ACC)in rat liver tissue.Results Compared with the model group,the acupuncture-exercise group had significant reductions in body weight,the serum levels of TC,TG,HDL-C,IL-1β,and IL-6,and the protein expression level of ACC in liver tissue(P＜0.05)and significant increases in the serum levels of HDL-C and ATP and the protein expression levels p-LKB1 and p-AMPK in liver tissue(P＜0.05).Conclusion Acupuncture combined with exercise can improve lipid-energy metabolism and reduce inflamma-tory response in obese rats,possibly by activating the AMPK signaling pathway.