Abstract Body: Diabetes increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and hypertension, in part, by decreasing arterial vasodilation through decreased NO bioavailability and increased superoxide. In the kidney, type 1 diabetes induces a decrease in renal filtration, proteinuria, inflammation, and fibrosis, increasing the incidence of kidney disease. In diabetic rats and rabbits, prone to renal disease, diabetes blunts acetylcholine (Ach)-induced vasorelaxation of afferent arterioles, in part, by enhancing endothelial superoxide. However, it is unclear whether diabetes affects afferent arteriole vasodilation and myogenic response in mice. We hypothesize that diabetes increases endothelial NOX1 mediated superoxide production in mouse afferent arterioles, decreasing Ach-induced vasodilation. We dissected and perfused afferent arterioles from male diabetic Akita mice 12-14 weeks of age and measured the effect Ach (10^-7-10^-5M) on luminal diameter after pre-constriction with norepinephrine. Diabetic Akita mice had a largely reduced Ach-induced dilation at all doses of Ach (80±6% average inhibition in dilation, p<0.025, n=6). To study the role of NOX1, we used the inhibitor ML171 (5µM). When added to the endothelial lumen, NOX1 inhibition completely restored Ach-induced dilation of diabetic Akita mice, which was not different from WT controls. In Control C57 mice, ML171 did not change Ach-induced dilation in Aff-Art (n=6). We then examined the myogenic response in diabetic mice by measuring lumen diameter after step increases in perfusion pressure (60-140 mmHg). Afferent arterioles of diabetic Akita mice did not constrict when pressure was increased, even at 140 mmHg, whereas WT mice showed normal myogenic response (delta constriction 60-140 mmHg WT: 2.15±0.41 vs Akita: 0.37±0.32 µm, WT p<0.01 from baseline, Akita n.s from baseline). To understand the mechanisms behind these effects we performed RNAseq in manually micro-dissected afferent arterioles from 12-week-old Akita and WT mice. Bioinformatics analysis showed 530 DEGs (FDR pAdj<0.05, n=6). Most of the DEGs are involved in endothelial cell function/metabolism, smooth muscle cell contractility, activated inflammatory pathways, and free radical/NO production. We conclude that early diabetes has a large effect on renal afferent arteriole reactivity by affecting the expression of hundreds of genes. These effects are likely involved in hypertension and kidney damage progression in type 1 diabetes.