Ultrasound mediated accelerated Anti-influenza activity of Aloe vera

Abstract

Aloe vera (AV) is popular and has been commercialized as a beauty product, laxative, herbal medicine, the antimicrobial activity of AV is proven. The antiviral activity of AV however, has not been well documented except for a handful reports. Till date extraction of AV compounds is popularized using organic solvents, since the active components are effectively extracted in methanol. In the current work, we have employed a 5 min ultrasound based extraction for the effective extraction of aloin and aloe-emodin compounds from AV in water. This rapid, one-pot extraction process resulted in enhanced extraction of flavonoids and phenolics and enrichment of the aloin and aloe-emodin moieties in the ulrasonicated water extracts. The extracts were tested for their anti-influenza activity and, the results showed that the ultrasound extraction enabled the water extracts to show excellent anti influenza activity comparable to that seen in the methanolic extracts. Compared to the methanolic extracts which showed high cytotoxicity, the water extracts showed zero cytotoxicity. Spectrophotometric scans of the extracts confirmed the enrichment of the aloin and aloe emodin peaks in the ultrasonicated extracts of AV, suggesting their handiwork behind the anti-influenza activity. The demonstrated technique if appropriately implicated, would lead to promising solutions in the pharmaceutical pursuit against influenza virus.