To observe the effect of Huayu Tongluo herbs on renal inflammation in diabetic nephropathy (DN) rats and explore its mechanism.Ten SD rats were randomly selected as normal control group (C group),and the other 30 rats were fed with one-time intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ,40mg/kg) combined with high-glucose and high-fat diet to establish diabetic model.The successfully modeled rats were randomly divided into model group (M group) and Huayu Tongluo herbs group (Z group).Z Group was treated with traditional chinese medicine.After 16 weeks,24 h urine total protein (24 h UTP),monocyte chemotactic protein 1(MCP-1),interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) were detected by ELISA method,the expression of CD68 and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) was detected by Immunofluorescence,and the expression of TAK1/JNK pathway related proteins transforming growth factor β-activated kinase 1 (TAK1),p-TAK1,c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p-JNK was detected by Western blot method.The results showed that compared with C group,the levels of 24 h UTP,MCP-1,IL-1β and TNF-α were significantly increased (P<0.001),a large number of CD68 and iNOS protein deposits were seen in renal interstitium,and the expression of p-TAK1 and p-JNK protein was significantly increased in M group (P<0.001).Compared with M group,the levels of 24 h UTP,MCP-1,IL-1β and TNF-α were significantly decreased (P<0.001,P<0.001,P<0.01,P<0.01),the deposition of CD68 and iNOS protein was significantly decreased,and the expression of p-TAK1 and p-JNK protein was significantly decreased in Z group (P<0.05).The results show that Huayu Tongluo herbs can reduce proteinuria and alleviate renal inflammation in DN rats,and its mechanism may be related to its reduction of macrophage infiltration and activation,and release of inflammatory factors in renal tissue via inhibiting TAK1/JNK pathway.