Objective    To establish the differential expression profile of early diabetic nephropathy (DN)- related microRNA (miRNA) in kidneys of db/db mice.     Methods    Twelve 9-week-old male db/db mice with hyperglycemia and significantly elevated urinary albumin excretion were used as an early DN group，and another twelve 9-week-old male db/m mice were used as a control group. Total mRNA was extracted from kidney tissues of mice and miRNA was concentrated with the YM-100 micro-centrifugation filter. Differential expression profile of miRNA in DN and control groups was detected by miRNA assay and RT-PCR

respectively. Target gene of related miRNA was detected with bioinformatics technology.     Results    miRNA assay showed that 66 miRNAs were differentially expressed in DN and control groups (P0.01). Of the 66 miRNAs

35 and 31 were highly and lowly expressed

respectively

in DN group

with a difference of 1.08 to 10.20 folds. RT-PCR showed that the expression of 3 miRNAs was up-regulated (miR-196a

miR-98 and miR-29c) and the expression of 4 miRNAs was down-regulated (miR-21

miR-451

miR-709 and miR-187) in DN group（P0.01）.     Conclusion    Some miRNAs are differentially expressed in the kidney tissues of DN and normal mice

suggesting that miRNAs may be involved in the molecular mechanism of DN.