To assess the effect of chronic administration of Rosa canina (RC) hydro-alcoholic extract on retinopathy in diabetic mice. Diabetic retinopathy is the common complication of diabetes. Vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)is one of the indicators which is involved in the progression of retinopathy in patients and restriction or decrease in its expression could improve clinical condition of affected individuals.

Animals divided into 4 groups (n = 12), including control (NS), diabetic (STZ), treatment (STZ + RC) and herb (RC). RC extracted by Maceration method and dried in vacuum condition in 60 ͦ C. STZ injected intra-peritoneally for diabetes induction. RC administrate via oral route for 30 continuous days in RC and STZ +RC groups. Sampling done with 10 days interval for 1 month after diabetes induction. Expression of VEGF in orbits evaluated by qPCR and animals serum glucose level was measured by glucometer.

The expression of VEFG in days 10, 20 and 30 after diabetes induction were 2.1, 2.8 and 3 fold (normalized to ?-actin) respectively v.s control group. Also in RC treated diabetic group the expression significantly decreased to 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 (p<0.05). Except first sampling, there was no significant difference in serum glucose level between groups. Weight in diabetic group was lower than other groups and mortality rate in this group was 20% during the study.

RC extract could inhibit VEGF expression leading to inhibition of retinopathy progression. Although it could increase survival rate and improvement of general condition in patients. So it seems that RC as a complementary compound beside common remedies could affect health state of diabetic patients. More future investigations are recommended for discovery of unknown areas of this matter.