Objective To study the therapeutic value of Mongolian drug hatagaqi-7 for wound healing of diabetic ulcers in rats and preliminarily explore its molecular mechanism in regulating hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α). Methods Adult male SD rats were randomly divided into control, diabetes, Mongolian drug, and cytokine groups. Except in the control group, the other three groups were treated with an intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin to establish the diabetes model. Ulcer wounds were prepared in the mouse back of the four groups. One week later, the Mongolian drug group was treated with hatagaqi-7, and the cytokine group was treated with recombinant bovine basic fibroblast growth factor for 2 consecutive weeks. Fasting blood glucose (FBG), wound area, wound pathology, expression levels of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), receptor of AGE (RAGE), HIF-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), secreted levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), and malondialdehyde (MDA), and the total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) were assessed. Results FBG of diabetes, Mongolian drug and cytokine groups was higher than that in the control group (P<0. 05), and no significant difference was observed among the three groups (P>0. 05). Compared with the control group, the ulcer wound area, scope of unrepaired tissue, expression levels of AGEs and RAGE, and secreted levels of IL-1β, IFN-γ, and MDA in wound tissue of the diabetes group were increased, and T-AOC and expression levels of HIF-1α and VEGF of the diabetes group were decreased (P<0. 05). Compared with the diabetes group, the ulcer wound area, scope of unrepaired tissue, expression levels of AGEs and RAGE, and secreted levels of IL- 1β, IFN-γ, and MDA in wound tissue of Mongolian drug and cytokine groups were decreased, T-AOC and expression levels of HIF-1α and VEGF in Mongolian drug and cytokine groups were increased (P< 0. 05), and indexes of the Mongolian drug group were better than those of the cytokine group. Conclusions Mongolian drug hatagaqi-7 promotes ulcer wound healing in diabetic rats, the inhibiton of AGE and RAGE expression and induction of HIF-1 α are the possible molecular mechanism.