ÉÍββÉββββIntroduction & Objective: Diabetic nephropathy is one of the micro vascular complications of uncontrolled diabetes. Chronic hyperglycemia results in the formation of glycated proteins and activation of pathways leading to diabetic nephropathy. Increasing RAGE and TGF? production in the kidney tissue is a major pathway involved in diabetic complications. In this survey, the effect of myoinositol and Crocin on RAGE and TGF? expression in the kidney of diabetic rats was studied.

Materials & Methods: In this experimental study after rendering rats with diabetes with strepto-zotocin, they were treated with oral 1% myoinositol and injection of 100 mg/kg BW crocin for 12 weeks. Changes in both RAGE and TGF? expressions in the kidney tissue were as-sessed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR method. The data was analyzed by SPSS 18 software and one way ANOVA and Tukey statisticaly tests. Results: Crocin administration caused a significant reduction in the RAGE and TGF? expres-sion in comparison with the untreated diabetic rats. Oral administration of myoinositol could not induce any significant changes in the expression of both genes in the diabetic rats. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, crocin has the ability to block pathways leading to diabetic nephropathy through reducing RAGE and TGFβ expression in the kidney tissue, maybe through its ability to reduce the serum glucose and AGEs, and antioxidant activity. Considering the positive effects of myoinositol in diabetic complications in previous studies, βmore studies are needed to find the mechanism of its action.