In vitro antileishmanial activity of Aloe vera leaf exudate: a potential herbal therapy in leishmaniasis

Aloe vera has wide spread use in health products, and despite several reports on the whole plant and inner gel, little work has been performed on the leaf exudate. Our aim was to evaluate the in vitro efficacy of Aloe vera leaf exudate (AVL) in leishmaniasis. Irrespective of the disease manifestation, promastigotes from strains responsible for cutaneous, mucocutaneous, and visceral leishmaniasis were susceptible to AVL and their IC(50) ranged from 100 to 180 microg/ml. In axenic amastigotes cultured from a L. donovani strain 2001 responsible for visceral leishmaniasis, the IC(50) was 6.0 microg/ml. AVL caused activation of host macrophages evident by an increased release of members of reactive oxygen species that was attenuated by preincubation with free radical scavengers. Collectively, our data indicates that AVL, via its direct leishmanicidal activity which can be further enhanced by activation of host macrophages, is an effective antileishmanial agent meriting further pharmacological investigations.