ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the effect of extract of Ginkgo bilboa leaf (EGB) on renal lesions of early diabetic nephropathy (DN).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty-eight patients with early DN were randomly divided into two groups, the control group (34 patients) and the treated group (34 patients). Patients in both groups received conventional therapy, while additional 9.6 mg EGB was orally taken by patients in the treated group, three times per day. The therapeutic course for both groups was three months. Indexes such as urinary microalbumin (mALB), alpha1-microglobulin (alpha1-MG), immunoglobulin (IgG), transferrin (TF), retinal binding protein (RBP) and N-acety-beta-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) before and after treatment between the two groups were compared respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with before treatment, mALB, alpha1-MG, IgG, TF, RBP and NAG obviously decreased with significant difference in the treated group after treatment (P < 0.05). However, no significant decrease in the above-mentioned indexes in the control group (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>EGB has the protective action on early DN.</p>