The possibility of natural cancer therapy has been recently suggested by advances in the knowledge of tumor immunobiology. Either cytokines such as IL-2, or neurohormones, such as the pineal indole melatonin (MLT), may activate anticancer immunity. In addition, immunomodulating substances have also been isolated from plants, particularly from Aloe vera. Preliminary clinical studies had already ...

Freeze-dried juice obtained from Aloe vera and heated for 15 minutes at 80 degrees inhibited several test microorganisms. Species of Aloe have had a long history as drug plants. This was pointed out by Morton (1) in a recent comprehensive review of Aloe from the standpoint of folk use and commercial exploitation. Fly and Kiem (2) recently carried out an investigation to ascertain whether Aloe v...

Instantly recognizable by its spiky green leaves, aloe vera is a succulent plant that stores water in its fleshy leaves and thus thrives in arid climates like deserts. Its use as a medicinal plant for soothing various external and internal woes dates back thousands of years. Currently, there?s some evidence to support its use for many of the ailments it?s traditionally been used to treat. Both ...

Traditional herbal drugs have a great demand in under developed countries due to their efficacy, low cost and lesser adverse effects, and they are considered to be “natural. Aloe vera at the dose of 500 mg body weight per oral was studied for the gross toxicities and hepatoprotective effect and observed the level of liver biochemical parameters in rabbits. Aloe vera showed highly significant (p...

Anthraquinones are natural phenolic compounds, which are reported to act as anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-cancer, laxative and antitumor agents. They are abudant in plants like candle bush, aloes, cascara bark and rhubarb. The present work was to observe the effect of different forced degradation conditions by high-performance thin layer chromatography on potential markers i....

A 65-year-old man presented with recurrent generalized itching since 1 year. Examination revealed lichenified skin over the face and extensors of both extremities. He gave a history of rubbing the pulp of Aloe vera leaves on to his lesions whenever his itching worsened. Clinically, we suspected allergic contact dermatitis, possibly aggravated with Aloe vera. He was patch tested with the plant s...

Aloe vera has been used worldwide both for pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic industries due to the plethora of biological activities of some of its metabolites. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antifungal and antioxidant activities of the leaf extract. The antifungal activity was determined by the agar-well diffusion method against plant and human fungal pathogens. The methanol and et...

A significant number of therapeutics derived from natural polymers and plants have been developed to replace or to be used in conjunction with existing dressing products. The use of the therapeutic properties of aloe vera could be very useful in the creation of active wound dressing materials. The present work was undertaken to examine issues concerning structural features, topography, enzymati...

The effect of whole leaf and gel materials from two aloe species (Aloe vera and A. ferox) was compared with that of the precipitated polysaccharides from these aloe materials on the transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) as well as transport of a model compound (atenolol) in the apical-to-basolateral direction across rat intestinal tissue. All the aloe leaf materials and precipitated poly...

The practice of using Aloe vera extract as a herbal medicine basically depend on folklore and by experiences of people over a long period of time. Extensive research, especially in the area of basic biochemical characterization and elucidation of bioactivities has been conducted in a systematic manner. This has resulted in the characterization of many biochemical compounds from Aloe vera, predo...