Liraglutide (LRG), one agonist of glucagon-like peptide-1, has multiple lipid-lowering effects in type 2 diabetes mellitus, however, studies on the role of LRG in saturated fatty acid-induced bone loss are limited. Therefore, our aim was to investigate whether LRG reduces palmitate (PA)-induced apoptosis and whether the mechanism involves PKA/β-catenin/Bcl-2/Bax in osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells. MC3T3-E1 cells were treated with different concentrations of PA, LRG, or pretreated with Exendin 9-39 and H89, cell viability, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cAMP levels, apoptosis and the expression of protein kinase A (PKA), β-catenin, cleaved-Capase 3, Bcl2-Associated X Protein (Bax) and B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) along with expression of Osteoprotegerin (OPG) and receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL) were evaluated. PA treatment inhibited cell proliferation and cAMP levels, elevated intracellular ROS levels and promoted apoptosis, increased protein expressions of RANKL, Bax and Cleaved-Caspase3, meanwhile decreased protein expression of OPG and Bcl-2 in a dose-dependent manner. LRG inverted PA-induced apoptosis, increased cAMP levels, promoted expression of p-PKA, p-βcatenin and reversed these gene expression via increasing GLP1R expression. Pretreatment of the cells with Exendin 9-39 and H89 partially eradicated the protective effect of LRG on PA-induced apoptosis. Therefore, these ndings indicated that LRG attenuates PA-induced apoptosis possibly by GLP1Rmediated PKA/β-catenin/Bcl-2/Bax pathway in MC3T3-L1 cells. Our results point to LRG as a new strategy to attenuate bone loss associated with high fat diet beyond its lipid-lowering actions.