The objective of this paper was to evaluate the effects of new ecdysterone derivative TAPA on reducing blood glucose, and to study the mechanism preliminarily based on cell study.Rats were randomly divided into normal control group, model group, TAPA-1(1 mg/kg)group, TAPA-5(5 mg/kg)group, TAPA-25(25 mg/kg)group and rosiglitazone(2 mg/kg)group with 10 rats in each group.Type 2 diabetes model was established in those groups except for normal control group.The latter 4 groups were given relevant medicines intragastrically for consecutive 28 days.Food intake, body weight, water intake and random blood glucose were determined every week; 2 h blood glucose concentration was determined following intragastric administration of glucose 5 h after last administration to calculate AUC for investigation of glucose tolerance.Insulin-resistant Hep G2 cells were established, and effects of TAPA and rosiglitazone 1*10-5mol/L on incorporation rate of glucose in insulin-resistant HepG2 cells were evaluated by 3H-d-glucose incorporation test under the condition of 1*10-9mol/L and 1*10-7mol/L insulin.Islet β cell tumor cell line 3(βTC3) was randomly divided into blank control group, TAPA-I(1*10-10mol/L) group, TAPA-II(1*10-8mol/L) group, TAPA-III(1*10-6mol/L)group and gliclazide(1*10-5mol/L) group.The content of insulin in cell was determined 24 h after incubation.Compared with normal control group, food intake, body weight and water intake of medication groups had no significant change.Compared with model group, the level of blood glucose in medication group was decreased significantly at the end of administration, and glucose tolerance was also decreased(P<0.05).Hypoglycemic effect and glucose tolerance were pos. correlated with TAPA dose and administration medication.TAPA and rosiglitazone had no significant effect on the incorporation rate of glucose in HepG2 cells, but significantly improved that of insulin-resistant HepG2 cells(P<0.01).Compared with blank control group, TAPA groups did not present any great effects on the secretion of insulin in β TC3 cells, and the secretion of insulin in βTC3 cells was increased significantly in gliclazide groups(P<0.01).TAPA could decrease blood glucose in type 2 diabetes model rats and improve glucose tolerance, also increased insulin sensitivity, but did not increase insulin secretion in vitro.