AIM: To study the effects of danhong huayu koufuye (DHK) on fasting blood glucose (FBG) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 1 diabetic rats to facilitate the rational usage of this drug. METHODS: Diabetic rats were induced by injection of a single dose of STZ intraperitoneally at 50mg/kg. Flash electroretinogram (FERG) and oscillatory potentials (OPs) were used to measure retinal function. The microvascular perfusion of ears was performed to study the microcirculation in rats. FBG, body-weight, and 24-h urine volume, water intake and diet intake were also assessed. RESULTS: DHK had no effect on FBG in normal rats. However, STZ + DHK group were significantly different from those of Model and moved toward those of normal control. It reversed the increase in diet intake(P≤0.05 vs model control) and the loss in body-weight(P≤0.05 vs model control) in diabetic rats. DHK decreased the FBG of diabetic rats by 25.6% (P≤0.05) and 37.9% (P ≤0.01) after 14 and 21 days administration as compared with the model control, respectively. Moreover, DHK significantly increased the FERG b-wave amplitude by 80% (P≤0.05 vs model control) and decreased the FERG b-wave latency by 15.3% (P≤0.01 vs model control) after 24 days administration. The OP1 and OP2 amplitudes in DHK group were 2.6 (P≤0.01) and 2.0 (P≤0.01) times of model group after 24 days of DHK treatment, respectively. At the same time, OP1 and OP2 latencies in DHK group reduced by 16.0% (P≤0.001) and 14.7% (P≤0.001) as compared with the model control, respectively. Furthermore, the microvascular perfusion of DHK group was 2.4 times of model group (P≤0.001) after 21 days administration. CONCLUSION: DHK had no effect on normal FBG. But it had antihyperglycemic activity, and had a preventive and therapeutic effect on DR in diabetic rats.