Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia in which the body does not produce or properly utilize insulin. It the reason of interruption in protein, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and caused the complications such as nephropathy, microangiopathy and retinopathy. It is the most widespread endocrine disorder, affects more than 176 million people worldwide (WHO 2004).
Diabetes mellitus is generally classified into three types; type I, type II diabetics and gestational diabetes (Velho and Foguel, 2002). Type I diabetes mellitus is commonly occur among young people, it is also known as juvenile-onset diabetes or insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Type I is the result of absolute deficiency of insulin that is commonly caused by the chronic autoimmune disease that results from complex interaction of both genetic and environmental factors (Pietropolo 2001). Type II diabetes mellitus is mostly occur in adults aged 40 years or above, it is commonly known as non-insulin diabetes mellitus characterized by too much hepatic glucose production, reduced insulin secretion from beta cells of pancreas, and peripheral tissues such as muscle adipose and liver become resistant to insulin (Ahmad 2006).
Association of hyperglycemia with long term damage, dysfunction as well as ultimate organs failure, mainly the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidney and nerves has previously been recognized (Hung et al. 2005).
Dyslipidemia is another main reason of mortality and morbidity that results in development of cardiovascular complications (Reasner 2008). It is a main risk factor of diabetes and mostly result from prolonged hyperglycemia and insulin resistance in both (type I and type II) diabetic patients is called ‘diabetic dyslipidemia’ (Mooradian 2009). Hyperlipidemia and an increase in blood cholesterol and triglyceride are results from decrease in lipolysis which is caused by deficiency of insulin, eventually increases the risk of heart attack and atherosclerosis (Avramoglu et al. 2006). The risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, retinopathy, neuropathy, ulceration and gangrene of extremities is increased with association of diabetes mellitus (Rotshteyn and Zito, 2004).
According to current statistics, diabetes mellitus is worse or greater in developing countries than the developed countries worldwide (Oputa 2002). So there is a great need to discover, design and test new drugs having dual therapeutic properties to control and cure both closely related critical diseases, diabetes and dyslipidemia and their mutually linked chronic complications (Bhandari et al. 2002).
In order to design and develop the drugs for the treatment, one of the best strategies is experimental animal models to understand pathophysiology of any disease (Rees and Alcolado, 2008; Chatzigeorgiou et al. 2009). For studying and testing anti-hyperglycemic agent, several animal models have been developed for the past few decades (Srinivasan and Ramarao, 2007). Chemical induction of experimental diabetes by alloxan is one of the most effective methods (Etuk 2010).
Alloxan is a widely used diabetogenic agent that induced the type I diabetes in animals but it also represent the end stage type II diabetes milletus: as there is severe deficiency of insulin in plasma, the end stage type II diabetes mellitus also adopts the characteristics of T1DM (Viana et al. 2004). Alloxan exerts its action by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) along with cytosolic calcium raised in islet B of pancreas, when administered parenterally (Szkudelski 2001). Diabetic dyslipidemia is also acquired by the untreated alloxan induced diabetic animals (Alnoory et al. 2013).
Currently herbal remedies are in great demand due to side effects associated with therapeutic synthetic drugs (Mahmood et al. 2011). There are large numbers of plants that have shown effective hypoglycemic activity after laboratory testing, more than 1200 plants species are used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus worldwide (Eddouks et al. 2005).
It is believed that antioxidants present in the diet help to reduce certain diseases, vegetables are rich in these compounds (Astley 2003; Bazzano et al. 2002). There are large number of herbs, spices and other plant materials that have shown hypoglycemic and antioxidant properties, and are less harmful than synthetic drugs (Eidi et al. 2006). For the development of new pharmaceutical lead along with dietary supplement to already existing therapies, medicinal plants provide a valuable source of oral hypoglycemic compounds (Bailey and Day, 1989).
Raphanus sativus (radish) belong to the family Brassicaceae and it is an edible root vegetable (Lewis-Jones et al. 1982). Radishes contain high quantity of calcium, magnesium potassium, copper, ascorbic acid, folic acid, vitamin B6, and riboflavin and low amount of saturated fat and are very low Cholesterol (Nunes et al. 2011). Roots, seeds and leaves are the different parts of radishes (Raphanus sativus) that are used for medicinal purposes (Nadkarni et al. 1976). Radish roots are beneficial to protect the cell membranes against lipid peroxidation and also inhibit the changes in membrane caused by fat rich diet (Sipos et al. 2002).
Radishes (Raphanus sativus) have good hypoglycemic potential coupled with antidiabetic efficiency (Shukla et al. 2011). Due to hyperlipidemia the probabilities of cardiovascular disease increases in diabetic patient. Raphanus sativus (radish) is a traditional plant which is used to lower plasma lipid. It has the capability to lower the plasma triglyceride, cholesterol, and phospholipids in normal rats (Taniguchi et al. 2006).
Radishes are recommended as an alternative treatment for various diseases including hyperlipidemia, coronary heart diseases and cancer due to its high medicinal and nutritional value (Cetin et al. 2010). Phosphatase, catalase, sucrase, amylase, alcohol dehydrogenase and pyruvic carboxylase are the main enzymes that found in the radish roots (Singh et al. 2013). It is beneficially used in curing poor digestion and liver dysfunction (Lugasi et al. 2005), antioxidant activities (Wang et al. 2010), anti tumorigenic (Kim et al. 2011), anti-diabetic (Shukla et al. 2010). The leaves of radish are good source of protein (Singh and Singh, 2013).
Armoracia rusticana (Horseradish) belongs to the Brassicaceae family; it is a hardy perennial plant, mustard and cabbage are also including in this family. The roots of horseradish are rich in vitamin C and B1, iron, potassium, calcium and magnesium, phytoncide and essential oils; Allyl isothiocyanate a (volatile aglycone) which is released by a glycoside is identical with the essence of mustard plant (Istudor 1998). Root of horseradish smells pungent due to the allyl sulfide, a substance present in garlic and onion.
Armoracia rusticana is a source of many compounds that have been broadly studied for various health benefits (Lin et al. 2000). It contains several substances that have beneficial effects on peripheral blood flow. Its utilization normalizes the blood pressure and prevents the risk of thrombosis and sulfurous substances also improve the elasticity of cerebral and coronary blood vessels (Cirimbei et al. 2013). It has antibacterial properties due to allyl isothiocyanate present in volatile oils, especially mustard oil (Rosemary 1976).
The main component of the horseradish and the other vegetables from Brasicaceae family is sinigrin, degraded by the myrosinase enzyme complex to the allyl isothiocyanate (Wang et al. 2010). The enzyme horseradish peroxidase, is a heme-containing enzyme found in the plant that utilizes hydrogen peroxide to oxidise a extensive variety of organic and inorganic compounds, widely used in molecular biology and biochemistry (Bladha and Olssonb, 2011).