Skimmin, a natural product isolated and purified from the herbs of Hydrangea paniculata with anti-inflammatory activity, can significantly improve renal function and suppress the IgG deposition as well as the development of glomerular lesions in a rat model of membranous glomerulonephritis, suppress diabetic nephropathy in rats effectively, and may slow down the renal fibrosis by regulating TGF-β1 signal pathway, and show cytotoxic effect on CAOV-4 cell line, with an IC50 of 70.03 ug/mL.