Clinical abstracts Diabetes Antidiabetic Activity Of Aloes: Preliminary Clinical & Experimental Observations Ghannam N; Kingston M; Al-Meshaal IA; Tariq M; Parman NS; Woodhouse N Horm Res 24(4):288-94 1986 The dried sap of the Aloe plant (aloes) is one of several traditional remedies used for diabetes in the Arabian peninsula. Its ability to lower the blood glucose was studied in 5 patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes and in Swiss albino mice made diabetic using alloxan. During the ingestion of aloes, half a teaspoonful daily for 4-14 weeks, the fasting serum glucose level fell in every patient from a mean of 273 +/- 25 (SE) to 151 +/- 23 mg/dl (p less than 0.05) with no change in body weight. In normal mice, both glibenclamide (10 mg/kg twice daily) and aloes (500 mg/kg twice daily) induced hypoglycaemia after 5 days, 71 +/- 6.2 and 91 +/- 7.6 mg/dl, respectively, versus 130 +/- 7 mg/dl in control animals (p less than 0.01); only glibenclamide was effective after 3 days. In the diabetic mice, fasting plasma glucose was significantly reduced by glibenclamide and aloes after 3 days. Thereafter only aloes was effective and by day 7 the plasma glucose was 394 +/- 22.0 versus 646 +/- 35.9 mg/dl, in the controls and 726 +/- 30.9 mg/dl in the glibenclamide treated group (p less than 0.01). We conclude that aloes contains a hypoglycaemic agent which lowers the blood glucose by as yet unknown mechanisms. Studies On The Activity Of Individual Plants Of An Antidiabetic Plant Mixture Al-Awadi FM; Gumaa KA Acta Diabetol Lat Jan-Mar 1987, 24(1) p37-41 A blood glucose lowering extract of a mixture of five plants in use by Kuwaiti diabetics was studied for the identification of its active component(s). Only the extracts of myrrh and Aloe gums effectively increased glucose tolerance in both normal and diabetic rats. The remaining components, gum olibanum, Nigella sativa seeds and gum assafoetida were without effect.
Normalized Blood Glucose Level Fujita Health Institute, Japan, 1992 A study was conducted of the use of Aloe vera as a possible agent in the reduction of blood glucose in obese middle-aged diabetics. Blood samples were taken from the subjects, both NIDDM (non-insulin-dependent-diabetes-mellitus) and IDDM (insulin-dependent-diabetesmellitus), and injected into laboratory mice whose blood glucose skyrocketed shortly thereafter. After treatment with Aloe vera injections, the blood glucose level of all test groups of rats had completely normalized within eight to twelve hours. Aloe Vera - Anti-Edemic & Analgesic Activity In Diabetes Davis R A 1988 study by the Davis, Leitner group established a criteria to test Aloe vera as an antiedemic, analgesic and would healing agent against opportunistic infections in the presence of diabetes, and to prove that Aloe vera works effectively even in an abnormal physiological state. In this study, mice were divided into five groups. One control group of non-diabetic mice, and one control and three test groups of mice subjected to a diabetes induction agent (streptozoticin in this case), and given time for the diabetes to set in place. After 48 hours lapsed time, wounds were induced on all groups. Afterward, the control group was administered no Aloe vera while the two test groups were administered decolorized Aloe vera in varying and incrementally higher dosages 1 milligram per kilogram, 10 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg. Then the five groups were tested at intervals of four and seven days to determine what effect, if any, the introduction of Aloe vera had on pain, edema, and the treatment of wounds. Not only did increased doses of Aloe vera help accelerate healing and aid in the rapid healing of the wounds. The percentage of wound reduction increased in direct proportion to the amount of Aloe vera administered during treatment. On day four, no significant difference in healing was noticed in the non-diabetic group and the control group of mice (about 18% versus 20%, allowing for a margin of error factor of 3). But by day 7, the wound healing in the normal group had incerased to 30 versus only 28% in the untreated diabetic mice. Test groups given the dosages of Aloe vera showed increased wound healing abilities on both day 4 and day 7. By day 4, the Aloe test groups had shown wound healing ranging from 32% (for the 1 mg/kg group) to 43% for the 100 mg/kg group. On day seven the average level of healing had increased to 43% for the 1mg/kg group all the way to 56.6% for the 100 mg/kg group. That marked a jump of nearly 30 percentage points for the test group of diabetic mice treated with large doses of Aloe vera. When the mice were tested for analgesic effects and blood edema tests, the Aloe vera test groups showed equally dramatic postive results in exhibiting lessened inflammation and improved pain response. 1989, In a follow-up study by Dr. Robert Davis and Nicholas P. March, Aloe vera was measured again for its anti-inflammatory activity in diabetes. This time, it was tested in
combinatiaon with gibberellin. Gibberellin is a naturally occurring glycoside and growth hormone found in plants, including the complex chemistry of the Aloe plant. Again the diabetes was adjuvant induced with the diabetic agent, streptozoticin, on adult male mice in control and test groups. In fact when tested individually and in context with the Aloe over the properly apportioned number of days, the gibberellin did show almost identical antiinflammatory results. So the evidence, in this test, seemed to point to the fact that the glycoside, gibberellin, might indeed hold the key to the healing plant s anti-inflammatory powers. Aloe Vera In The Treatment Of Conditions Concomitant With Diabetes Davis R Pennsylvania College Of Pediatric Medicine In 1991, numerous studies on the effects of Aloe vera in the treatment of conditions concomitant with diabetes mellitus are conducted by research groups headed by Robert Davis, Ph.D. In their various studies, the Davis research teams have found Aloe vera compounds to be dramatically effective in the treatment of wounds, edema, and pain that commonly accompany the condition. Additionally, his study on the effect of Aloe vera and gibberellin in the treatment of inflammatory pathologies concomitant with diabetes showed remarkably effective inhibitive capacities without any of the tissue addiction found so commonly in applications of steroids to treat the same conditions. Aloe Vera Stimulates Insulin Secretion Prof. Gannam and his Arabian group verified that Aloe vera stimulates insulin secretion and lower blood sugar down to the normal state. Prof. Gannam found this in human experiments as well as in animal ones. Effect Of Aloes On Blood Glucose Levels In Normal & Alloxan Diabetic Mice Ajabnoor MA Department Of Clinical Biochemistry, College Of Medicine & Allied Sciences, King Abdulaziz University J Ethnopharmacol Vol 28, ISS 2, 1990, P215-20 The acute and chronic effects of the exudate of Aloe barbadensis leaves and its bitter principle were studied on plasma glucose levels of alloxan-diabetic mice. Aloes was administered orally, 500 mg/kg, and the bitter principle was administered intraperitoneally, 5 mg/kg. The hypoglycemic effect of a single oral dose of Aloes on serum glucose level was insignificant whereas that of the bitter principle was very highly significant and extended over a period of 24 h with maximum hypoglycemia observed at +8 h. In chronic studies, Aloes was administered twice daily and the bitter principle was administered once a day for 4 days. The maximum reduction in plasma glucose level was observed at the 5th day in both cases. The
hypoglycemic effect of Aloes and its bitter principle may be mediated through stimulating synthesis and/or release of insulin from the beta-cells of Langerhans. Aloe Arborescens Restores The Blood Sugar Of A Mouse Suffering From Diabetes Fujita K Fujita Health College Aichi Prefecture initially confirmed that Aloe arborescens restores the blood sugar of a mouse suffering from diabetes. Next, Prof. Fujita administered a B-cell killing drug called streptozotocin to healthy mice to produce a diabete-affected mice with insulin dependence, then, gave them Aloe (to some, the leaf skin; to others, jelly portion). In each case, the tested mice regained their blood sugar to the normal. From this results, he made two inductions: 1. Aloe may protect B cells or restore denatured B cells. 2. Aloe may play the same role as insulin since even from the destroyed B cells, blood-sugar reduction was equally observed. The Effect Of A Plant s Mixture Extract On Liver Gluconeogenesis In Streptozotocin Induced Diabetic Rats al-awadi F; Fatania H; Shamte U Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University Diabetes Res 18(4):163-8 1991 Dec We have previously reported on plant mixture extract comprising of Nigella sativa, Myrrh, Gum Olibanum, Gum Asafoetida and Aloe to have a blood glucose lowering effect. The present study with streptozotocin diabetic rats is focused on the mechanism of action, specifically on a) hepatic gluconeogenesis b) activity of key gluconeogenic enzymes, pyruvate carboxylase (PC) and phosphoenol-pyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK). Similar studies using a biguanide, phenformin, have been conducted to compare the mode of action of these two compounds. The blood glucose levels (mean +/- SEM) before and after treatment with the plants extract were (16.7 +/- 1.7 mmol/l and 8.5 +/- 1.3 mmol/l) and with phenformin (15.1 +/- 1.3 mmol/l and 10.7 +/- 1.5 mmol/l). The rate of gluconeogenesis in isolated hepatocytes as well as activity of PC and PEPCK in liver homogenates is significantly lowered following treatment with the plants extract. Although phenformin also lowers blood glucose, it does not affect hepatic gluconeogenesis under stated experimental conditions. It is concluded that the anti-diabetic action of the plants extract may, at least partly, be mediated through decreased hepatic gluconeogenesis. The extract may prove to be a useful therapeutic agent in the treatment of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). Aloe Vera & Gibberellin, Anti-Inflammatory Activity In Diabetes Davis RH; Maro NP J Am Podiatr Med Assoc 79(1):24-6 1989 Jan Aloe vera inhibits inflammation and adjuvant-induced arthritis. The authors laboratory has shown that A. vera improves wound healing, which suggests that it does not act like an
adrenal steroid. Diabetic animals were used in this study because of their poor wound healing and anti-inflammatory capabilities. The anti-inflammatory activity of A. vera and gibberellin was measured in streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice by measuring the inhibition of polymorphonuclear leukocyte infiltration into a site of gelatin-induced inflammation over a dose range of 2 to 100 mg/kg. Both Aloe and gibberellin similarly inhibited inflammation in a dose-response manner. These data tend to suggest that gibberellin or a gibberellin-like substance is an active anti-inflammatory component in A. vera.