Objective To systematically evaluate the effect of differentially expressed placental proteins on the growth and development of placenta in rat models with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Methods Databases including CBM, CNKI, Cochrane Library, EMBase, Ovid / LWW, PubMed, Scopus, VIP, WanFang Data and Web of Science were searched by computer and relevant references were manually searched from inception to September 30, 2020. Two researchers independently screened literature, extracted data, assessed quality, and analyzed the outcomes. Results of sixteen studies were included in the analysis. (1) Differentially expressed placental proteins affected the proliferation and apoptosis of trophoblast cells, interfered with placental angiogenesis, increased vascular permeability, enhanced placental oxidative stress and inflammatory responses, and caused abnormal growth and development of placenta in rat models with GDM. (2) Differentially expressed placental proteins were mainly localized in the cytoplasm and / or nuclei of spongiotrophoblasts, labyrinth trophoblasts, giant cells and fetal vascular endothelial cells in rat placenta. (3) Pathological changes included increased trophoblast area, decreased blood vessel density and disordered tissue structure in the placenta of rats with GDM. Conclusions Differential expression of placental proteins may change placental structure and function to cause abnormal growth and development of placenta and thereby promote or aggravate the occurrence of GDM and its complications in rats. However, many high-quality studies are still needed for further verification, because of the limitations of included studies in terms of rigorous experimental design and internal authenticity.