Podocyte injury has been considered as a major contributor to the progression of diabetic nephropathy (DN). Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are being found to be involved in DN pathogenesis. The current research was designed to elucidate the potential role and latent molecular mechanism of long noncoding RNA MIAT in HG-induced podocyte injury. Our data demonstrated that MIAT expression was substantially elevated but miR-130a-3p was diminished in HG-challenged podocytes. Additionally, lack of MIAT mitigated HG-evoked inflammatory reaction in podocytes as evidenced by the diminished the release of inflammatory mediators TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-1 beta. Moreover, depletion of MIAT evidently amplified cell viability and alleviated HG-triggered apoptosis, reflected as the downregulation of Bax expression concomitant with the enhancement of Bcl-2 expression in HG-exposed podocytes. Mechanistically, MIAT effectively modulated TLR4 expression through acting as a competing endogenous sponge of miR-130a-3p, and TLR4 was confirmed as a specific target gene of miR-130a-3p. More importantly, the miR-130a-3p/TLR4 crosstalk contributed to the protective effect of MIAT knockdown on HG-provoked podocyte damage. Collectively, these findings highlighted that blocking MIAT/miR-130a-3p/TLR4 network play vital regulatory roles in mitigating HG-induced inflammation damage and apoptosis, thereby protecting podocyte from HG-stimulated injury, implying that MIAT might be a promising therapeutic strategy for developing effective treatments against DN progression. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.