ABSTRACT
Diabetic nephropathy is one of the most common microvascular complications of diabetes. It is the main cause of end-stage renal disease and a cause of increased mortality of diabetes. Moreover， diabetic nephropathy has a complex pathogenesis， which is difficult to be detected in the early stage. Therefore， it is easy to miss the optimal intervention period in clinical treatment， which seriously endangers the life and health of patients. As an active ingredient of Chinese medicine， polysaccharides have biological activities such as anti-tumor， lowering blood sugar， immune regulation， anti-oxidation and anti-virus. In recent years， many studies have demonstrated that polysaccharides in Chinese medicine can effectively interfere with diabetic nephropathy， with multi-target and multi-channel characteristics and significant effect， showing great potential. Although there are many studies on the mechanism of Chinese medicine polysaccharides in the intervention of diabetic nephropathy， there is a lack of a systematic and detailed review on it. Therefore， based on the animal experiments on the intervention of Chinese medicine polysaccharides in diabetic nephropathy in recent years， we analyzed and summarized the mechanism of Chinese medicine polysaccharides in the intervention of diabetic nephropathy from five aspects of improving insulin resistance， improving oxidative stress， reducing inflammatory reaction， protecting kidney and improving intestinal flora. In addition， the signaling pathways and indicators involved in the mechanism were summarized， and the intervention effect and polysaccharide structure analysis were compared. The paper was expected to provide a theoretical basis for the basic research， new drug development and clinical application of Chinese medicine polysaccharides in the intervention of diabetic nephropathy.