The main purposes of this study were to investigate the effects of α-linolenic acid (ALA) on the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system of porcine primary hepatocytes with or without growth hormone (GH) or insulin and the potential role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α and -γ (PPARα/γ) pathway. We found that 1 μM ALA increased IGF-I secretion from hepatocytes at 48 and 72 h. Expression of hepatocytes IGF-I, IGF-II, GH receptor (GHR), insulin receptor (IR), IGF-binding protein 3 (IGFBP3), and IGFBP4 mRNAs was up-regulated by ALA treatment. GH (15 nM) alone or co-treated with ALA increased hepatocytes IGF-I secretion and the expression of GHR and IGFBP1 mRNAs, but down-regulated IGFBP5 mRNA compared with appropriate control across ALA. GH also enhanced the ALA-induced increase in the transcript levels of IGF-II and GHR, but tended to attenuate that of IGFBP4. Insulin (1 μM) alone or co-treated with ALA improved IGF-I secretion and the expression of IGFBP3 mRNA, but decreased IGFBP1 mRNA versus appropriate control across ALA. Insulin also up-regulated the expression of GHR, IR, IGFBP3, and IGFBP4 mRNAs, and tended to prevent the transcript levels of IGF-I and IGFBP4 improved by ALA. Both PPARγ agonist rosiglitazone and its antagonist GW9662 could elevated the IGF-I secretion in dose-dependent manner but they had no interaction with ALA. However, GW7647, a PPARα agonist, increased IGF-I secretion dose-dependently, but the antagonist GW6471 was without effect. Moreover, GW6471 prevented the IGF-I promoting effect of ALA. This suggests that the IGF-I promoting effect of ALA may be mediated by the PPARα pathway.