Available online on 15.03.2021 at http://jddtonline.info
Journal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics
Open Access to Pharmaceutical and Medical Research
© 2011-21, publisher and licensee JDDT, This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted non-commercial use(CC By-NC), provided the original work is properly cited
Open Access Full Text Article Review Article
Sibr (Aloe barbadensis): A Short Description with Unani Approach
Akhtar Hilal1*, Akhtar Md. Wasi2, Khan Md. Saad Ahmad3, Husain Syed Zeba4
1 Assistant Professor, D/o Amraz-e-Jild wa Tazeeniyat, Allama Iqbal Unani Medical College & Hospital, Muzaffarnagar, UP, India.
2 Assistant Professor, D/o Moalajat, School of Unani Medical Education and Research, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India.
3 Assistant Professor, D/o Ilaj-bit-Tadbeer, A.K.Tibbiya College, AMU, Aligarh, India.
4 Private Unani Consultants, Aligarh, India.
|
Article Info: _________________________________________ Article History: Received 06 Jan 2021; Review Completed 17 Feb 2021 Accepted 24 Feb 2021; Available online 15 March 2021 ___________________________________________________________ Cite this article as: Akhtar H, Akhtar MW, Khan MSA, Husain SZ, Sibr (Aloe barbadensis): A Short Description with Unani Approach, Journal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics. 2021; 11(2):224-227 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22270/jddt.v11i2.4768
|
Abstract ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ In many parts of world, there is still a tradition of using herbal drugs to combat various diseases & infections. Sibr is one of the essential components of Unani system of medicine and used by Unani physicians due to it’s a lot of medicinal properties since ancient time. It is commonly called Aloe-vera and belongs to the Lilicaceal family. It is a cactus like herb and grows in hot and arid environment. Unani physicians have been using this drug as a laxative, purgative (phlegm/bile), brain tonic, stomach tonic, liver tonic, emmenogogue, anti-inflammatory, blood purifier, antibacterial, and carminative agent. Hence, this drug having a vital place in Unani system of medicine and text. It is also use to reducing Low density Lipoprotein, increasing High density Lipoprotein, minimizing frost-bite injury, reducing blood glucose level, fighting against Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), allergies, and boosting immune system. This article was designed to lime light the Aloe barbadensis by describing its brief toxicology, contraindications, traditional, therapeutic and others uses. Keywords: Antibacterial, Aloe barbadensis, Sibr, therapeutic, Unani system of medicine. |
|
*Address for Correspondence: Hilal Akhtar, D/o Amraz-e-Jild wa Tazeeniyat, Allama Iqbal Unani Medical College & Hospital, Muzaffarnagar, UP, India. |
|
INTRODUCTION:
Sibr (Aloe vera) is an extremely popular herbal drug amongst the various currently available herbal remedies and at the moment receiving a lot of scientific attention 1. Sibr is an oldest medicinal plant ever known and most applied medicinal plant globally used for centuries for its health, beauty, cosmetic, vigor, wellness, and medicinal properties2,3. The name Aloe vera derives from the Arabic word “Alloeh,” meaning ‘shining bitter substance,’ whereas “vera” in Latin means “true,” about 2000 years back. The Unani scientists considered Sibr as the universal panacea and Egyptians called it “the plant of immortality.” Nowadays, the plant of Sibr has been used for different purposes in Amraaz-e-jild Wa Tazeeniyaat (Dermatology and Cosmatology)3.
HISTORY:
The history of our understanding of A. barbadensis parallels the history of scientific knowledge. Sibr has been used for its medicinal properties in many cultures such as Greece, Egypt, India, Japan, China, and Mexico from thousand years. It is used by Egyptian Queens Nefertiti as beauty regimes. Dioscorides, renowned Unani scholar of Roman era, describe about the Sibr in his Medical treatise “De Materia Medica”3.
BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION:4
Taxonomy
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asphodelaceae (Liliaceae)
Genus: Aloe
Species: A. vera
PLANT PROFILE:
Botanical Name: Aloe barbadensis Linn.5,6
Common Name: Aloe Vera3
Family: Liliaceae 5,6,7
Vernacular Names:
Arabic: Sibr 7,8 Persian: Shabyar, Alwa 9 Hindi: Ailwa 5 Ghee-kanwar 10 Greek: Faiqra 9 Sanskrit: Kumarai, Aileekh 7,8 English: Indian aloes 7,8,10 Romi: Alya 9
Part Used:
The dried and fresh juice of the leaves, leaf gel, the whole leaves, the gel from the water storing tissue and the roots.7,8,11.
Temperament (Mizaj):
Hot and dry in second degree.5,7,8
Hot in second degree & dry in third degree.9,12,13
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION:
There are about 250 species of A. barbadensis grown throughout the world. Amongst them 2 species are grown commercially e.g. A. barbadensis Miller and A. arborescens. It is grown in warm, tropical regions and cannot stay alive in freezing temperature1.
Aloe vera is a native to North Africa, the Mediterranean region of South Europe, Canary Island, Souther Arabia, and Madagascar. It is now cultivated throughout the West Indies, North and South Tropical America, Caribbean and tropical Asia14,15, 16. In India, it grows wild on the coast of Mumbai, Gujarat, and South India17,18.
TRADITIONAL USES:
It is popular amongst various traditional medicines like Chinese, Ayurvedic, Unani etc. In Ayurvedic medicine, it is used internally as a uterine stimulant, laxative, vermicide, and hemorrhoid remedy. Topically, it is used to treat various skin disorders like eczema, psoriasis in different proportion with licorice root. In Arabian medicine, the fresh gel of Aloe is rubbed on the forehead to lighten the headache and also rubbed on the whole body to cool it in case of pyrexia. It is also use to heal the wound, to cure the conjunctivitis and as a disinfectant19.
ACTIONS (AFA’AL): 5,6,7,8,10,12,18,20,21,22,23
Laxative/Cathartic, Purgative (Phlegm/Bile), Tonic to stomach and liver, Vermicide Emmenogogue, Anti-ulcerogenic, Anti-inflammatory, Anesthetic, Anti-bacterial, Anti-prostaglandin effect, Anti-spasmodic, Carminative, Diuretic, Blood Purifier, Antileprotic.
THERAPEUTIC USES:
Gastro-intestinal tract: Aloe relieves obstruction of liver and stomach, act as a tonic for liver & stomach and is beneficial in jaundice.10,24,25. The drug is widely used for constipation, anal fissure, and haemorrhoids.205,206,223 It is used in worm infestation due to its vermicide action7,22. The stem is used in dysentery10.
Central Nervous System: It purifies the brain, eyes by excretion of corrupt humors from them. It is beneficial in melancholia and in case of headache it mixed with rose oil & applied on forehead24,25.
Respiratory system: It is used in children suffering from bronchial asthma10,22,25.
Skin: Radiation burns, thermal burns, frost bite, wound healing in pressure sore, seborrhoeic dermatitis, and psoriasis9,10,20,25,26,27.
Fertility and Menstruation:
In a study aloe compound was found to improve fertility in 85%, the menstrual function also improved in 44.60%. It has been concluded that aloe compound is very useful in case of functional sterility.28. It is also used in various menstrual disorders such as amenorrhea, oligomenorrhoea7,8,22.
Analgesic Activity:
Carboxypeptidase was found to have a significant analgesic effect and inhibited the acceleration of vascular permeability with acetic acid inflammation. It has been suggested that carboxypeptidase may be a main anti-inflammatory agent of aloe, though other compounds could contribute to the effect29.
Musculoskeletal system:
Aloe is also beneficial in Wajaul Mafasil (Joints Pain). It mixed with roghan gulab and used as a Tila in Wajaul Mafasil 6,9,10,22,23,24.
DOSE:
6 gm, 23 4½ g- 9g, 9 1 ratti-4 ratti, 7,8 3½ masha- 4½ masha, 13
1.75 masha-3½ masha, 7 masha, 10½ masha 22
SUBSTITUTE (BADAL):
Turbud (Ipomoea turpethum R.) 7,8
Usara Rewand 7
Huzuz double its weight, says Ibn-e-Masawaih 5
Rasoot double its weight, and Afsanteen, Zafraan 22
CHEMISTRY:
The aloe yields two important products:
Aloe resin: It is the solid residue obtained by evaporating the latex obtained from the pericyclic cells beneath the skin. The bitter yellow latex contains the anthroquinone barbaloin (a glucoside of aloe-emodin) and iso- barbaloin in addition to a series of o- glucosides of barbaloin called aloinosides chrysophanic acid, and upto 63% resin. Filtering out resins from the exudates and concentrating the remaining anthroglycoside material into crystalline form produces aloin. The concentration of anthroglycosides varies with the types of aloe ranging from 4.5 to 25% of aloin. Aloin is a mixture of water soluble glycosides obtained from aloe 30.
Dried leaf juice:
Anthranoids: Anthrones mainly the c-glycosides, aloins A and B (Barbaloin, isobarbaloin, and stereoisomers of 10-glucosyl-aloe-emodin anthrone), other glycosides include 8-0-methyl-7-hydroxy aloins A and B, aloinosides A and B (aloin-11-0-rhamnosoids). Small quantities of 1, 8-dihydroxyxanthra-quinoid glycones, including aloe-emodin and chrysophanol are present11.
Chromones: Major constituents are aloesin and aloeresin E. Lesser quantities of isoaloresin D, 8-c-glucosyl-7-o-methyl-aloesol and related glycosides which may be esterified at the glucose moiety by either cinnamic, p-coumeric or ferulic acids are also present. Non-glycosylated chromones include 7-hydroxy-2, 5-dimethyl chromone, furoaloesone, 2-acetonyl-7-hydroxy-8-5-methyl chromone and 2-acetonyl-8-7-hydroxy-5-methyl chromone11.
Phenyl pyrones- glycosides include aloenin and aloenin B11.
Other constituents- Cinnamic acid and 1-methyl tetralin, salicylates, cholesterol, .tryglycerides, magnesium lactate, carboxypeptide 11,31.
TOXICOLOGY:
Harmful (Muzir): It is harmful to intestine due to its erosive property7,8,23.
Corrective (Musleh): 7,8,23
Kateera (Sterculia urenus)
Gul-e-surkh (Rosa Damascus mill)
Side effects:
Contraindications:
Interactions:
Herb/Drug
Herb
MURAKKABAT 7,8,23
Habb-e-tinkar
Habb-e-shibyar
Habb-e-mudir
Habb-e-sibr
Habb-e-ayarij
CONCLUSION:
In last few decades, there is increased interest in understanding the mechanism of action and development of herbal drugs for wellness of human being. Treatment based on allopathic drugs is effective in the prevention and management of diseases, but it is very expensive and has a lot of adverse effects. Hence, the implication natural herbal drugs in prevention and management of diseases, day by day are increasing all over the world, especially in the developing countries, due to their affordability and less toxicity. The A. barbadensis Linn (Sibr) has been used by renowned Unani Physicians since ancient time to treat various bacterial infection, gastro-intestinal disorders, skin conditions, fighting against allergies, to heal cancer, and boosting the immune system. Along with this, Sibr has many other uses which are supported by various researches done by researchers across the world.Traditionally, A. barbadensis Linn is used to treat a huge variety of health problems. Consequently, there is a burning call for investigate the biological activity of its phytoconstituents for development of a new more effective, economical, reliable herbal drug with better efficacy and higher safety margin.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
The authors were thankful to Prof. Misbahuddin Siddiqi, D/o Moalijat, Faculty of Unani medicine, A.M.U., Aligarh-202002 for providing necessary support to carry out this work.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST:
There is no any conflict of interest to declare.
REFERENCES: