Mechanistic studies showed that the aortic protection of Zn treatment against diabetes-induced aortic pathogenesis was associated both with the up-regulation of Nrf2 protein expression and transcription, shown by the increased expression of Nrf2 down-stream gene NQO-1 at both mRNA and protein levels, and with the up-regulation of MT expression. This evidence concerns the gene NQO1 and diabetes mellitus.