Objective: Bererine has been used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus in Chinese traditional medicine because of its hypoglycemic effect. In this report, we compared the intrinsic tyrosine kinase activities of erythrocyte insulin receptors from type 2 diabetes mellitus with or without stimulation by berberine in vitro. Methods: Preparations containing insulin receptors were obtained from soluble human erythrocytes, and the insulin receptors were partially purified by affinity chromatography. The tyrosine kinase activity was measured by the exogenous substrate phosphorylation. Results: Both the membrane tyrosine kinase activity and the purified receptor tyrosine kinase activity from diabetics decreased significantly compared with those of normal individuals (reduced by 67.4 ％ and 47.2 ％, respectively).After incubation with berberine, there is a statistical difference in the activity of membrane tyrosine kinase for diabetic patients (a 150％ increase). Bererine had no effect on the tyrosine kinase activity of purified insulin receptors. Conclusion: We concluded from these results that berberine was able to improve the insulin sensitivity by increasing the protein tyrosine kinase activity of membrane-bound insulin receptors from type 2 diabetes mellitus.