This study chiefly aimed at investigating the effects of Dan Zhi Jiang Tang Capsule (DJC) on myocardial Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4),tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) and the cardiopathologic changes in diabetic rats.Fifty male rats,excluding 8 rats in the control group,had been administered with high fat forage for 4 weeks,which established the diabetic rat model combined with the intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ) at 35 mg· kg-1.The established model rats were randomly divided into the model group,the DJC high-dose group,the DJC low-dose group and the pioglitazone group.The rats in the model group and the control group were intragastrically administered with DJC at 1.08 and 0.54 g· kg-1 each day,while those of the pioglitazone group were treated with pioglitazone at 10 mg· kg-1 each day,and those of the model group and control group with saline of the same volume.The administrations lasted 8 weeks with the continues high-fat diet.The levels of TLR4,TNFα and IL-8 protein in myocardium of the rats were determined,and so were the blood glucose,HbA1c and blood lipids.Compared with the control group,the expressions of myocardial TLR4,TNFα and IL-8 in the model group were significantly increased (P＜ 0.01).The expressions of TLR4,TNFα and IL-8 in the DJC high-dose and low-dose groups were significantly decreased (P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).The cardiopathological report showed severe myocardial lesion in the model group.However,myocardial lesion in the DJC high-dose group was significantly mitigated,which presented better therapeutic effects than the DJC low-dose group and the pioglitazone group.The levels of blood glucose,HbA1c,TG,TC,LDL-C in the model group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).The levels of blood glucose,HbA1c,TG,TC and LDL-C were significantly decreased in the DJC high-dose and low-dose groups in comparison with the model group (P＜ 0.05 or P＜ 0.01).In conclusion,DJC down-regulated the expressions of TLR4,TNFα and IL-8 and improved the degree of myocardial lesion in the diabetic rats,showing favorable hypoglycemic and lipid-lowering effects.