Study on aloe processed by traditional and modern methods to use as an antioxidant and UV protective ingredient

Antioxidant activity and UV opacity potential of 'aloe gel' has been documented prior to our study, but it was not compared with other forms of aloe processed by traditional methods like drying over flame (agnitapi) and drying under sun (suryatapi).Lower DPPH scavenging activity and lower UV opacity potential with lyophilized crude aloe gel was observed in previous study.Prior study did not give an idea about how much concentration of the aloe material can block more than 93.3 % of UVB radiation.Processing of aloe leaf is labour intensive and time consuming operation, hence herbal product manufacturers use different ready to use 'aloe materials' to manufacture herbal products, hence there is need of such materials.This study was aimed to find out suitable aloe material that can be used as an ingredient in topical antioxidant UV protective formulation.Leaves of Aloe vera (L.) Burm.f.Syn.Aloe barbadensis Mill.were processed by different methods to obtain dry solid aloe materials which are named as Agnitapi kanyasara, Suryatapi kanyasara and Vacuum dried aloe gel.Agnitapi kanyasara (AK) was prepared by drying aloe leaf juice including yellow sap by heating overmild flame.Suryatapi kanyasara (SK) was prepared by drying aloe leaf juice without yellow sap under sunlight.Vacuum dried aloe gel (VG) was prepared from aloe leaf juice (mucilaginous liquid gel) without yellow sap by applying ethanol precipitation and vacuum drying technique.Suitability of the aloe material out of AK, SK and VG was decided on the basis of presence of desirable constituents (phenol and polysaccharide), absence of undesirable constituents (aloe anthraquinone), possessing desirable activities that is DPPH radical scavenging activity (DRSA) and UV radiation blocking activity (UVBA).AK was found to contain aloe anthraquinones which are known to cause allergic skin reaction on topical use.It was found that SK does not contains aloe anthraquinones, it contains phenol and polysaccharide.It was found that VG does not contains aloe anthraquinones and phenols, it contai polysaccharide.SK and VG have shown positive test for protein also.At equal concentrations AK, SK and VG shown DRSA and UVBA in the order AK > SK > VG.AK shown highest DRSA and UVBA, but it was found to contain aloe anthraquinone which are undesirable in topical formulation.VG have shown lowest DRSA and UVBA.SK shown 46.02% and 65.19% DRSA when 20 mg in 5 ml and 30 mg in 5 ml quantity was used, respectively.SK has shown more than 97% UVBA when 20 mg/ml and 30 mg/ ml quantity was used to prepare sample solutions.Out of the studied, aloe materials, AK, SK and VG, Suryatapi kanyasara (SK) was found as suitable material to use as an ingredient in topical antioxidant UV protective formulation.Suryatapi kanyasara (SK) was found to contain more than one constituent from aloe leaf, hence it is a mixture.At the outset, it is noted that AK is a suitable aloe material for unani or ayurvedic oral formulation intended to treat constipation and digestion problems where purgative action due to antharquinone is required.Established analytical methods, materials and instruments feasible to individual researcher and small scale entrepreneur having low financial budget were effectively used in this study, so that it can be helpful to them.To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind.