Aloe Vera Gel

Aloe Vera Gel Cubes
Aloe Vera Gel is the colorless mucilaginous gel obtained from the parenchymatous cells in the leaves of Aloe Vera. The gel is a viscous, transparent and fluid-like liquid which tastes slightly bitter and is generally taken fresh (without drying).

Aloe Vera Gel is different from Aloe Vera Juice which is the bitter yellow exudate originating from the bundle sheath cells of the leaf. The drug Aloe consists of the dried juice.

Major chemical constituents

Aloe Vera Gel consists primarily of water and polysaccharides (pectins, hemicelluloses, glucomannan, acemannan, and mannose derivatives). It also contains amino acids, lipids, sterols (lupeol, campesterol, and sitosterol), tannins, and enzymes. Mannose 6-phosphate is a major sugar component.

Because any of the active ingredients in the gel appear to deteriorate on storage, the use of fresh gel is recommended.

Extracting Aloe Vera Gel
Preparation of fresh gel

First of all, harvest leaves and wash them with water and a mild chlorine solution. Remove the outer layers of the leaf including the pericyclic cells, leaving a “fillet” of gel. Care should be taken not to tear the green rind which can contaminate the fillet with leaf exudate. The gel may be stabilized by pasteurization at 75–80 Degree Celsius for less than 3 minutes. Higher temperatures held for longer times may alter the chemical composition of the gel.

Medicinal uses

Medicinal uses supported by clinical data has not been found yet.

However, the uses described in pharmacopoeias and in traditional systems of medicine claim that the gel is very useful for medicinal purposes. Aloe Vera Gel is widely used for the external treatment of minor wounds and inflammatory skin disorders. The gel is used in the treatment of minor skin irritations, including burns, bruises, and abrasions. The gel is further used in the cosmetics industry as a hydrating ingredient in liquids, creams, sun lotions, shaving creams, lip balms, healing ointments, and face packs.

Aloe Vera Gel has been traditionally used as a natural remedy for burns. Aloe Vera Gel has been effectively used in the treatment of first- and second-degree thermal burns and radiation burns. Both thermal and radiation burns healed faster with less necrosis when treated with preparations containing Aloe Vera Gel. In most cases the gel must be freshly prepared because of its sensitivity to enzymatic, oxidative, or microbial degradation. Aloe Vera Gel is not approved as an internal medication, and internal administration of the gel has not been shown to exert any consistent therapeutic effect.

Uses described in folk medicine but not supported by experimental or clinical data include the treatment of acne, haemorrhoids, psoriasis, anaemia, glaucoma, petit ulcer, tuberculosis, blindness, eborrhoeic dermatitis, and fungal infections.

Wound healing

Clinical investigations suggest that Aloe Vera Gel preparations accelerate wound healing. "In vivo" studies have demonstrated that Aloe Vera Gel promotes wound healing by directly stimulating the activity of macrophages and fibroblasts. Fibroblast activation by Aloe Vera Gel has been reported to increase both collagen and proteoglycan synthesis, thereby promoting tissue repair. Some of the active principles appear to be polysaccharides composed of several monosaccharides, predominantly mannose. It has been suggested that mannose 6-phosphate, the principal sugar component of Aloe Vera Gel, may be partly responsible for the wound healing properties of the gel. Mannose 6-phosphate can bind to the growth factor receptors on the surface of the fibroblasts and thereby enhance their activity.

Furthermore, acemannan, a complex carbohydrate isolated from Aloe leaves, has been shown to accelerate wound healing and reduce radiationinduced skin reactions. The mechanism of action of acemannan appears to be twofold. First, acemannan is a potent macrophage-activating agent and therefore may stimulate the release of fibrogenic cytokines. Second, growth factors may directly bind to acemannan, promoting their stability and prolonging their stimulation of granulation tissue. The therapeutic effects of Aloe Vera Gel also include prevention of progressive dermal ischaemia caused by burns, frostbite, electrical injury and intraarterial drug abuse. In vivo analysis of these injuries demonstrates that Aloe Vera Gel acts as an inhibitor of thromboxane A2, a mediator of progressive tissue damage. Several other mechanisms have been proposed to explain the activity of Aloe Vera Gel, including stimulation of the complement linked to polysaccharides, as well as the hydrating, insulating, and protective properties of the gel.

Because many of the active ingredients appear to deteriorate on storage, the use of fresh gel is recommended. Studies of the growth of normal human cells in vitro demonstrated that cell growth and attachment were promoted by exposure to fresh Aloe vera leaves, whereas a stabilized Aloe Vera Gel preparation was shown to be cytotoxic to both normal and tumour cells. The cytotoxic effects of the stabilized gel were thought to be due to the addition of other substances to the gel during processing.

Anti-inflammatory

The anti-inflammatory activity of Aloe Vera Gel has been revealed by a number of in vitro and in vivo studies. Fresh Aloe Vera Gel significantly reduced acute inflammation in rats (carrageenin-induced paw oedema), although no effect on chronic inflammation was observed. Aloe Vera Gel appears to exert its anti-inflammatory activity through bradykinase activity and thromboxane B2 and prostaglandin F2 inhibition. Furthermore, three plant sterols in Aloe Vera Gel reduced inflammation by up to 37% in croton oil-induced oedema in mice. Lupeol, one of the sterol compounds found in Aloe vera, was the most active and reduced inflammation in a dose dependent manner. These data suggest that specific plant sterols may also contribute to the anti-inflammatory activity of Aloe Vera Gel.

Burn treatment

Aloe Vera Gel has been used for the treatment of radiation burns. Healing of radiation ulcers was observed in two patients treated with Aloe vera cream, although the fresh gel was more effective than the cream.

Complete healing was observed, after treatment with fresh Aloe Vera Gel, in two patients with radiation burns. Twenty-seven patients with partialthickness burns were treated with Aloe Vera Gel in a placebo-controlled study. The Aloe Vera Gel-treated lesions healed faster (11.8 days) than the burns treated with petroleum jelly gauze (18.2 days), a difference that is statistically significant.

Contraindications

Aloe Vera Gel is contraindicated in cases of known allergy to plants in the Liliaceae.

Adverse reactions

There have been a few reports of contact dermatitis and burning skin sensations following topical applications of Aloe Vera Gel to dermabraded skin. These reactions appeared to be associated with anthraquinone contaminants in this preparation. A case of disseminated dermatitis has been reported following application of Aloe Vera Gel to a patient with stasis dermatitis. An acute bullous allergic reaction and contact urticaria have also been reported to result from the use of Aloe Vera Gel.

(Source of Information: WHO monographs on selected medicinal plants)

1 comment:

  1. Hi,
    Have a good day. I hope action life is good for everyone. Aloe vera gel comes from beneath the layers of Aloe plant leaves which is succulent-like often thought of as cactus leaves. Aloe vera leaves are filled with thick and gelatinous gel and the aloe vera gel at the center of each leaf is important for medicinal purposes. Each aloe leaf is divided into four layers, the rind which is the hard greenish gray other protective layer, the sap which is the bitter liquid under the rind that surrounds the gel, the mucilage gel or the inner leaf area and, the inner gel or the gel fillet which contains eight essential...
    Thanks
    Aloe Vera Gel

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...