Open Access Diabetes & Metabolism Sharma et al., J Diabetes Metab 2013, 4:9 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2155-6156.1000303 Volume 4 • Issue 9 • 1000303 J Diabetes Metab ISSN: 2155-6156 JDM, an open access journal Research Article Hypoglycemic and Hepatoprotective Effects of Processed Aloe vera Gel in a Mice Model of Alloxan Induced Diabetes Mellitus Bhaskar Sharma 1 *, Sufiyan Siddiqui 1 , Gurudayal Ram 1 , Manisha Chaudhary 1 and Gaurav Sharma 2 1 Department of Biochemistry, Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences, Allahabad, India 2 Suresh Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur, India Keywords: Aqueous leaf extract of aloe vera; Alloxanized diabetes; Bilirubin Abbreviations: SGOT: Serum Glutamate Oxaloacetate Transaminase; SGPT: Serum Glutamate Pyruvate Transaminase Introduction Diabetes mellitus (DM) has been defined by a persistently elevated blood glucose concentration, leading to complications that can be acute and long term [1]. Globally, DM presents enormous and increasingly important public health issues. e prevalence of DM in all age groups was estimated to be 2.8% (170 million) in 2000 and the rate is expected to rise to 4.4% (366 million) in 2030 [2]. e occurrence and consequences associated with diabetes are found to be high in countries like India (31.7%), China (20.8%) and USA (17.7%). e rate is expected to rise to 79.4%, 42.3% and 30.3%, respectively, by 2030 in the above countries [3]. e worldwide survey on diabetes reveals that among the entire diabetes cases more than 90% are account to type-II [4]. e overall death rate in people with diabetes is about twice that of people without diabetes [5]. e mechanism of alloxan action has been intensively studied, predominantly in vitro, and is now characterized quite well. Using isolated islets [6] and perfused rat pancreas [7] it was demonstrated that alloxan evokes a sudden rise in insulin secretion in the presence or absence of glucose. is phenomenon appeared just aſter alloxan treatment and was not observed aſter repetitive exposure of islets to this diabetogenic agent [6]. e sudden rise in blood insulin concentration was also observed in vivo just aſter alloxan injection to rats [8]. Alloxan- induced insulin release is, however, of short duration and is followed by complete suppression of the islet response to glucose even when high concentrations (16.6 mM) of this sugar were used [7]. e action of alloxan in the pancreas is preceded by its rapid uptake by the β-cells [9,10]. Rapid uptake by insulin-secreting cells has been proposed to be one of the important features determining alloxan diabetogenicity. e diabetogenic agent, alloxan, is a hydrophilic and chemically unstable compound. e logarithm of the octanol/water partition coefficient of alloxan was found to be -1.86; its half-life at pH 7.4 and 37°C in phosphate buffer was 1.5 min. e partition coefficients and half-lives of the alloxan reduction products, alloxantin and dialuric acid, were very similar to those of the parent compound; N-methylalloxan and N,N’-dimethylalloxan were less hydrophilic but more unstable. Alloxan and its N-methyl derivatives were reduced by thiols and in the presence of glutathione and cysteine, rapid redox cycling occurred, with formation of ‘active oxygen’ species [11]. On the other hand, when a diabetogenic dose is used, the time of alloxan decomposition is sufficient to allow it to reach the pancreas in amounts that are deleterious [12]. Insulin therapy and oral hypoglycaemic agents offer effective glycaemic control, but insulin therapy has shortcomings such as ineffectiveness following oral administration, short shelf life, the need for constant refrigeration, and fatal hypoglycaemia, in the event of excess dosage [13]. As a result, there is a need to search for compounds with effective antidiabetic activity when taken orally. e oral hypoglycemic agents that are capable of reducing blood sugar level belong to two chemical classes; sulfonylureas and biguanides [14]. However, the use of oral anti-diabetics is limited due to their adverse side effects including hematological, cutaneous and gastrointestinal *Corresponding author: : Bhaskar Sharma, Department of Biochemistry, Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences , Allahabad- 211008, U.P, India, Tel: +91-9696907157/+91- 8005319392; E-mail: : reserachpaper26@ gmail.com Received August 17, 2013; Accepted October 19, 2013; Published October 24, 2013 Citation: Sharma B, Siddiqui S, Ram G, Chaudhary M, Sharma G (2013) Hypoglycemic and Hepatoprotective Effects of Processed Aloe vera Gel in a Mice Model of Alloxan Induced Diabetes Mellitus. J Diabetes Metab 4: 303. doi:10.4172/2155-6156.1000303 Copyright: © 2013 Sharma B, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Diabetes mellitus is a heterogeneous disease characterized by altered cellular metabolism. So many traditional herbs are being used by diabetic patients to control this disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of aqueous extract of aloe vera leaves on hypoglycemic activity and hepatoprotective effects after alloxan injection in Swiss albino mice. In this study, aqueous leaf extract of aloe vera was carried out. Diabetes was induced in mice by alloxan monohydrate at dose of 150 mg/kg body weight injected intraperitoneally. Also alloxanized induced mice were administered with 300 and 500 mg/kg body weight orally daily of extract for a period of 21 days. At the end of the administration period, the mice were anaesthesized and dissect for the collection of blood and liver tissues. In diabetic mice, the SGOT, SGPT and bilirubin level as well as serum glucose levels were significantly increased (p<0.05) in comparison with the control groups. Diabetic mice group treated by extract at the dose of 300 and 500 mg/kg body weight orally significantly (p<0.05) reduced and normalised these biochemical parameters compared with alloxan induced diabetic group. Histopathological study also did show adverse alternation in the morphological architecture of the liver tissue. The results suggested that aqueous extract of aloe vera leaves possesses protective effect against alloxan induced diabetic mice.