Abstract: Objective:To observe the effects of L-carnitine injection on inflammation and red blood cell(RBC) immune function in diabetic nephropathy(DN) patients treated with maintenance hemodialysis(MHD).Methods:Eighty-nine MHD patients were randomly into the observation group(47 cases) and control group(42 cases).Two groups were treated with peritoneal dialysis,2 to 3 times a week,4 h each time.The observation group was intravenously injected with L-carnitine for 5 min before the end of the dialysis,1 g each time.The inflammatory factors and RBC immune indexes in two groups were detected after 1 and 3 months of treatment.Results:With the prolonging of treatment,the levels of IL-6,TNF-α,and hs-CRP in observation group declined gradually,and the decreasing degree of those in control group was not obvious.The levels of inflammatory factors in observation group after 1 month and 3 months of treatment were significantly lower than those in control group(P< 0.01).After treatment,the percentages of RBC-C3bRR wreath and CD35 positive RBC,and level of SOD gradually increased,and the percentage of RBC-ICR wreath declined gradually in two groups.After 1 month and 3 months of treatment,the percentages of RBC-C3bRR wreath and CD35 positive RBC in observation group were significantly higher than those in control group(P<0.05 to P<0.01),but the percentage of RBC-ICR wreath in observation group after 1 month and 3 months of treatment was significantly lower than that in control group(P<0.01).Conclusions:The exogenous L-carnitine in DN patients treated with MHD can obviously improve micro-inflammation status,and erythrocyte immune function.