International Journal of Biomedical and Advance Research 184

ANTI-BACTERIAL AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF ALOE VERA GEL

EXTRACT
Renisheya Joy Jeba Malar T1, Johnson M2*, Nancy Beaulah S1, Laju R S1, Anupriya G1,
Renola Joy Jeba Ethal T1
1
Department of Biotechnology, Noorul Islam College of Arts and Science, Kumaracoil, Tamil Nadu,
India
*2
Department of Plant Biology and Plant Biotechnology, St. Xaviers College (Autonomous),
Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India
E-mail of Corresponding Author: ptcjohnson@gmail.com

Abstract
Objective: The present investigation was aimed to examine the antimicrobial potential of DMSO
crude extracts of Aloe barbadensis Miller (Aloe vera) gel against the selected pathogens Bacillus
subtilis, Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus vulgaris, Aspergillus
fumigatus, Candida albicans and Penicillium sps.
Methods: The bacteria were identified and confirmed by conventional microbiology procedure.
Antimicrobial study was carried out by disc diffusion method against the pathogens by using the
crude DMSO extracts of A. vera gel.
Results: The antibacterial activity has been observed in the DMSO gel extracts of A. vera against all
the tested bacteria with varied activity. The maximum zone of inhibition 13 mm for E. coli, 12 mm for
P. vulgaris, 10.5 mm for S. aureus and 10 mm for B. subtilis were observed. The maximum zone of
inhibition 11 mm for C. albicians and 9 mm for Penicillium sps were observed.
Conclusion: It is hoped that this study would lead to the establishment of some compounds that could
be used to formulate new and more potent antimicrobial drugs of natural origin.
Keywords: Aloe barbadensis; Aloe vera; Bio-efficacy; Anti-Bacterial; Anti-fungal

1. Introduction of therapeutic uses viz., anti-inflammatory7,8,

Aloe barbadensis Miller (Aloe vera) belongs to
the Liliaceae family, of which there are about
360 species. It is a cactus-like plant that grows
readily in hot, dry climates and currently,
because of demand, is cultivated in large
quantities 1. The gel of A. vera was used to treat
stomach ailments, gastrointestinal problems,
skin disease, constipation, radiation injury,
inflammatory effect, healing wounds and burns,
ulcer and diabetes. A. vera products are mainly
for cosmetic, pharmaceutical, nutraceuticals and
food industries 3. The gel stimulates cell growth
and enhances the restoration of damaged skin. It
moisturizes the skin because it has a water
holding capacity. As a drink, it protects the
mucous membrane of the stomach especially
when irritated or damaged. A. vera juice is
considered helpful for relieving many types of
gastrointestinal irritation and juice products are
widely available4. Aloe gel is perhaps the most
widely recognized herbal remedy in the United
State today; it is used to relieve thermal burn,
sunburn and promote wound healing 5. In
addition, research suggests that Aloe gel can
help to stimulate the bodys immune system 6. A.
barbadensis Miller (A. vera) possessed a number
IJBAR(2012)03(03) www.ssjournals.com
immunostimulatory 9, antibacterial10, antiviral 11,
antifungal 12 and cell growth stimulatory activity
13,14
. A number of reports are available on the
microbial activity of the hexane, ethanolic,
acetone, petroleum ether; ethyl acetate extracts
A. vera gel and leaves 15-18. Although a lot of
works have been carried out on the
biological activity of A. vera gel, there is a
lacuna on the exercise of DMSO as solvent for
the phyto-constituents (active compounds)
extraction. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is
an organosulfur compound. It is an
important polar aprotic solvent that dissolves
both polar and nonpolar compounds and
is miscible in a wide range of organic solvents as
well as water. It is extensively used as an
extractant in biochemistry. With this knowledge,
the present study was aimed to examine the
DMSO aloe gel extract against the selected
pathogens.
2. Materials and Methods:
2.1. Collection of plant Material: Leaves of
Aloe vera were collected from the road sides of
in and around Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, India. The
plant was authenticated by Dr. M. Johnson and

Research Article Antonisamy et al 185

the specimens voucher was deposited in the St.
Xaviers College Herbarium for further
reference.
2.2. Extraction: Mature, healthy and fresh
leaves of A. vera were washed in the running tap
water for 5 min and rinsed with sterile distilled
water, then dissected longitudinally and the
colourless parenchymatous tissue (aloe gel) was
scraped out using a sterile knife without the
fibres. The gel was ground with DMSO19 using
the mortar and pestle. The extracts were filtered
using Whatman No. 1 filter paper and the filtrate
was centrifuged at 5000 rpm for 5 min.
2.3. Experimental Procedure: The supernatant
was collected and stored in refrigerator at 4C.
Different concentration of A. vera gel extract
was subjected to antimicrobial studies. Pure
bacterial and fungal culture was obtained from
Viveks Laboratory, Nagercoil. Five bacterial
cultures Bacillus subtilis, Salmonella typhi,
Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and
Proteus vulgaris were maintained in nutrient
agar medium at room temperature and were sub-
cultured into newly prepared nutrient agar slants, of A. vera against the selected strains of human
every two-week. Three fungal cultures of
Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans and
Penicillium sps were maintained in potato
dextrose agar medium. The selected concentration of DMSO gel extracts of A. vera
microorganism were identified and confirmed by
conventional and biochemical test. 1). The DMSO gel extracts of A. vera showed
Antimicrobial activity was carried out by disc
diffusion method against the selected pathogens.
The crude DMSO extracts were used for
bioassay against both bacteria and fungi. Sterile
discs with 6 mm diameter were loaded with 100,
200, 400 g/ml of gel DMSO extracts and
introduced into the sterile medium with the test
organisms. The plates were incubated at 37 C
for 24 hours. Antimicrobial activity was
evaluated by measuring the zone of inhibition.
All the experiments were repeated thrice and
results were recorded. DMSO was used as
negative control.
3. Result:
DMSO gel extracts of A. vera were screened for
the antibacterial and antifungal activity against
the human pathogens and the results are given in
the Table 1. The antibacterial activity has been
observed in the DMSO gel extracts of A. vera
against all the tested bacteria with varied
activity. The maximum zone of inhibition 13
mm for E. coli, 12 mm for P. vulgaris, 10.5 mm
for S. aureus and 10 mm for B. subtilis were
observed. Similar to antibacterial, the antifungal mentagraphytes, T. schoeleinii, M. canis and C.
activity of the A. vera gel extracts also varied
IJBAR(2012)03(03) www.ssjournals.com
according to the concentration. The maximum
zone of inhibition 11 mm for C. albicians and 9
mm for Penicillium sps were observed. The A.
vera gel extracts were failed to show the zone of
inhibition against the A. fumigatus. All the three
different concentrations (100, 200 and 400
g/mL) of DMSO gel extracts of A. vera
showed the inhibitory effect on the seven out of
eight pathogens with the maximum zone of
inhibition in the highest concentration (400
g/mL).
4. Discussion:
In the present investigation, in vitro antibacterial
and anti-fungal activity of the DMSO gel
extracts of A. vera was quantitatively evaluated
on the basis of zone of inhibition. All the three
concentration of DMSO gel extracts of A. vera
studied in the present investigation exhibited
varying degree of inhibitory effect against the
selected bacterial and fungal pathogens (Table
1). The present study shown the anti-bacterial
and anti-fungal property of DMSO gel extracts
pathogenic bacteria and fungi and the degree of
inhibition varied depending upon the
concentration of the extract. Highest
displayed maximum zone of inhibition (Table
highest degree of activity (7/8) against the
selected pathogens.
20
Ibrahim et al investigated the
phytoconstituents and antimicrobial activity of
aqueous, ethanol and acetone extracts of the A.
vera gel against some human and plant
pathogens by disc diffusion method. Among the
three extracts, ethanol and acetone extracts
recorded significant antimicrobial activity
against all test pathogens. Antibacterial and
antifungal activity of the acetone extract was
found to be quite impressive as compared to
ethanol and aqueous extracts. Cock 16 studied the
antimicrobial activity of A. barbadensis leaf gel
components. Methanolic extracts of A.
barbadensis inner leaf gel were fractionated by
RP-HPLC and the resultant fractions were tested
for inhibitory activity against a panel of bacteria
and fungi. Five fractions were identified as
having antimicrobial activity. Of which fraction
1 had the broadest antibacterial activity. Agarry
et al 15 compared the antimicrobial activities of
ethanolic extracts of A. vera gel and leaf against
S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, Trichophyton
albicans. Antimicrobial susceptibility test

Research Article Antonisamy et al 186
showed that both the gel and the leaf inhibited
the growth of S. aureus. Only the gel inhibited
the growth of T. mentagrophytes, while the leaf
possesses inhibitory effects on both P.
aeruginosa and C. albicans. Thiruppathi et al 18
conducted a study to determine the antimicrobial
activity of A. vera juice with different
solvents viz., hexane, ethyl acetate, petroleum
ether and ethanol against Gram positive bacteria
(B. subtilis, S. aureus), Gram negative bacteria
(E. coli, K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa). The
result showed that more antimicrobial activity in
ethyl acetate (1-9 mm) and ethanol extract (7-12
mm). The least inhibitory effect on petroleum
ether extract was 2 mm.
Thiruppathi et al 18 prepared the A. vera gel
crude extracts according to the method described
by Ahmad et al 21 with minor modifications. 1
gm gel extract was mixed in 5 mL of ethanol
and mixed well and kept it under shaker for
overnight 22. After overnight incubation the
mixture was filtered through Whatmann No. 1
paper and it was evaporated at room
temperature. After evaporation, pellet was
resuspended with 0.5 mL of Di Methyl Sulpho
Oxide (DMSO) using micro syringe and
recollect it for further use. Plant powder residue result of the present study supplemented the
left after ethanol extraction was sequentially
extracted with ethyl acetate, hexane and
petroleum ether. In the present study, we
extracted the Aloe vera gel with DMSO as a
solvent. They studied the antibacterial activity of
hexane, ethyl acetate, petroleum ether and
ethanol extract of A. vera gel against Gram
positive bacteria (B. subtilis, S. aureus), Gram
negative bacteria (E. coli, K. pneumoniae, P.
aeruginosa). But in the present study we studied
the antibacterial and antifungal activity against
the B. subtilis, S. typhi, E. coli, S. aureus, P.
vulgaris, A. fumigatus, C. albicans and
Penicillium sps. In addition, Arunkumar and
17
Muthuselvam used three different solvents
aqueous, ethanol and acetone to extract the
bioactive compounds from the leaves of A. vera
to screen the antimicrobial activity against
selected human clinical pathogens by agar
diffusion method. They observed the maximum
antibacterial activities in acetone extracts
(120.45 nm, 200.35 nm, 200.57 nm and 3. Klein AD, Penneys. Aloe vera. Journal of the
150.38 nm) other then aqueous and ethanol
extracts. The maximum antifungal activity was
observed in acetone extracts (150.73 nm and
80.37 nm) when weighed against other
23
extracts. Pawar et al prepared the crude A.
vera gel extract by hot extraction with acetone,
ethanol and methanol in the oven at 80C for 48
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h. In the present study, we prepared the cold A.
vera extracts by using Dimethyl sulfoxide as a
solvent. Pugh et al 19 and Lawless and Allan 24
screened the antimicrobial activity of A. vera gel
against the pathogens viz., S. aureus, B. subtilis,
K. pneumonia, Streptococcus pyogenes,
Pseudomonas, E. coli, Helicobacter pylori and
S. typhi. They observed the maximum zone of
inhibition against Bacillus with 23 mm. They
observed the minimum inhibition activity
against the pathogen E. coli. In contrary in the
present study we observed maximum zone of
inhibition against the pathogen E.coli (13 mm).
Alemdar and Agaoglu 25 conducted a study to
determine the antimicrobial activity of the A.
vera juice against Gram-positive bacteria
(Mycobacterium smegmatis, S. aureus,
Enterococcus faecalis, M. luteus and B.
sphericus), Gram-negative bacteria (P.
aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae, E. coli and S.
typhimurium) and C. albicans as in vitro. The
study showed that A. vera juice has
antimicrobial activity against M. smegmatis, K.
pneumoniae, E. faecalis, M. luteus, C.
albicans and B. sphericus, but has no inhibitory
effect against the other bacterial strains. The
previous observations on the antimicrobial
activity of the A. vera gel extracts.
Conclusion
It is hoped that this study would lead to the
establishment of some compounds that could be
used to formulate new and more potent
antimicrobial drugs of natural origin. Studies are
in progress to identify the bioactive compound
and to evaluate the mechanisms of action of A.
vera gel extracts on some organisms associated
with human diseases.
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100 g/ml
Bacillus subtilis 7 8
Salmonella typhi Nil
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Proteus vulgaris 10
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Penicillium sps 6 8
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200 g/ml 400 g/ml
10
Nil Nil
12 13
10.5
11 12
Nil Nil
11
9
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