ABSTRACT
[Summary] Diabetic nephropathy is one of the major chronic microvascular complications of diabetes ,which is the leading cause of end‐stage renal disease ,as well as the main cause of death in diabetic patients. Glomerular endothelial cell is an important component of the glomerular filtration barrier ,which is directly related to the materials of circulation ,and it can be easily damaged by glucose ,lipid and inflammatory factors. Under the hyperglycemia ,the PKC pathway ,the polyol pathway and oxidative stress were activated ,producing an excess of advanced glycation end products and reactive oxygen species ,which damage the endothelial nitric oxide synthase ,reduce the generation of nitric oxide ,while produce a large number of Ang Ⅱ. Ang Ⅱ damage the endothelial cell. In addition ,there are crosstalk between glomerular endothelial cells and endothelial cells ,which also cause endothelial cell injury. Here ,we reviewed the role of endothelial cell injury in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy.