Abstract: The objective of the study was to explore the expression of adenosine monophosphateactivated protein kinase (AMPK) in the BJY chicken thigh muscle and its effects on the intramuscular fat(IMF). The BJY chickens were divided randomly into 6 treatments and 15 chickens each treatment. The chickens were fed under the same feeding standards and management condition. The chickens were slaughtered on the 1, 56, 112 days old and the expression of AMPK and lipid metabolic gene and IMF contents of thigh muscle were measured. The difference of gene expression was calculated by the method of of 2^{- ΔΔCT} value. The results showed that the expression levels of AMPKα2 and AMPKγ2 genes on the 56 days old in BJY chickens were lower than that on 1 (P>0.05) and 112 days old (P<0.05), which had the same trend with the gene expression of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor（PPAR）α and γ, Fatty Acid Translocase CD36 (FAT/CD36), Fatty acid synthase (FAS), Calciumsensing receptor (CASR). But the expression of AMPKβ1, AMPKβ2 and AMPKγ1 on the 56 days old were higher than that on 1 (P<0.05) and 112 days old (P>0.05), which had inverse trend with the expression of lipid metabolic genes (PPARα, PPARγ, FAT, FAS, CASR). The results of the study on cell incubation showed that the activation of AMPK by AICAR inhibited the expression of PPARα and PPARγ and reduced the lipid accumulation in preadipocyte. But inhibition of AMPK by compound C enhanced the expression of PPARα and PPARγ and promoted the lipid accumulation in preadipocyte. In conclusion, these data show that AMPK, especially AMPKβ1, AMPKβ2 and AMPKγ1, may play a negative regulation role in the process of adipogenesis.