Objective:To investigate the effect of Valsartan on the expressions of Toll-like receptor(TLR) 2 in the arteria of streptozotocin(STZ) induced diabetic rats. Methods:Thirty-one Sprague-Dawley rats aged 8 weeks were assigned randomly to receive STZ at a dose of 60 mg/kg intraperitoneally(diabetes, n = 24) or citrate buffer alone(normal controls,NC,n = 7). One week after injection, only STZ-treated rats with plasma glucose concentrations above 16.7 mmol/L were considered diabetic and were subsequently dividied into two groups:diabetic group and DV group which received Valsartan 20 mg/(kg·d) intragastricly. At 12th week, the rats in three groups were sacrificed for their arteria and blood samples. The expressions of TLR2 mRNA were determined by reverse transcription PCR. The protein levels of TLR2 were detected by Western blot. Results:Compared with NC group, the levels of blood glucose in DM and DV groups increased significantly(P < 0.01), but no notable difference was found in the levels of blood glucose between DM and DV group(P > 0.05). The expressions of TLR2 mRNA and protein in DM group were much higher than that in NC group(P < 0.01), but it was much lower in DV group than that in DM group(P < 0.01). Conclusion:The expressions of TLR2 mRNA and protein were much higher in the arteria of diabetic rats, Valsartan could obviously reduce the expression of TLR2 in the arteria of diabetic rats which implicates that it might be able to ameliorate the early inflammatory reaction in the arteria of the rats with diabetes.