Abstract: Abstract Objective To observe the effects of Salvianolic acid B(SalB) on plaque area and AGEs/RAGE expression of plaque in diabetic atherosclerosis animal models prepared from apolipoprotein E(ApoE) gene knock-out mice treated by intraperitoneal injection of STZ and high fat diet. Methods Fifty two-month female ApoE gene knock-out mice were injected with STZ and fed with high fat diet for 12 months. Then blood sugar level was measured and forty diabetic atherosclerosis mice were selected for the following treatment experiment. Diabetic atherosclerosis mice were randomly divided into four groups. Each group was fed with same high fat diet and intragastrically administrated with different drugs for 8 weeks, named MOD group(distilled water)、SalBH(SalB 160mg/kg/d) group、SalBM group(SalB 80mg/kg/d) and Lovastatin（LVT 2.3mg/kg/d）group. Then fasting blood sugar level(FBG) was measured by using full automatic biochemistry instrument. Frozen sections and paraffin sections of mice aortas were made. The plague area、plaque area corrected by cross-sectional vessel wall area as well as the expressions of AGEs and RAGE were measured by Sudan Ⅲstaining or HE staining and immunohistochemistry staining and then analyzed by Image-Pro Plus(IPP) version 6.0 system. Results Compared with the MOD group, plaque area reduced significantly in SalBH、SalBM and LVT treatment group（P＜0.05）;besides plaque area of LVT group is lower than that of SalBH group and plaque area of SalBH group is lower than that of SalBM（P＜0.05）. Compared with the MOD group, average optical density value of AGEs reduced significantly in SalBH、SalBM and LVT treatment group（P＜0.05）. Conclusions SalB can reduce the diabetic atherosclerotic plaque area by decreasing the expressions of AGEs and RAGE in atheromatous plaque.

Key words: Salvianolic acid B Apolipoprotein E-gene knock-out mice plaque area Advanced Glycation Endoproducts（AGEs） RAGE