Abstract: Objective To investigate the auxiliary therapeutic effects and mechanism of emodin on diabetic nephropathy(DN).Methods DN rats were induced with GK rats fed with high fat diet. Forty DN rats were divided into 5 groups: model group, repaglinide (0.7 mg·kg-1) group, emodin (20, 40 and 80 mg·kg-1) plus repaglinide (0.7 mg·kg-1) group according to the level of blood glucose. Each group consists of 8 rats. Animals were administered orally twice daily for continuous sixty days. Hemorheology index, blood glucose(GLU), blood fat(TC、TG), inflammatory cytokines(IL-6、TNF-α) and renal function index(BUN、CR、mAlb) were determined after the last intragastric administration, and histopathological changes of kidney were observed by HE staining.Results Compared with repaglinide group, the level of TC, TG, BUN, CR, IL-6, TNF-α, mAlb and hemorheology index were decreased, at the same time pathological changes of kidney were alleviated significantly in emodin (40 and 80 mg·kg-1) plus repaglinide (0.7 mg·kg-1) groups.Conclusion Emodin (40 and 80 mg·kg-1) has a remarkable renal protective effects on kidney of DN rats．

Key words: emodin, diabetic nephropathy, hemorheology, blood fat