Aloe Vera Applications in Wound Healing
Summary
Aloe vera, a succulent plant long esteemed in traditional medicine, continues to attract scientific attention for its multifaceted role in wound healing. The transparent mucilaginous gel within the leaf contains polysaccharides, such as acemannan, alongside a complex mixture of vitamins, minerals and phenolic compounds. These bioactive constituents confer antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, each of which contributes to the successive phases of tissue repair. Topical application of Aloe vera gel has been shown to promote haemostasis, enhance fibroblast proliferation and migration, and accelerate extracellular matrix deposition, all essential for epithelial regeneration and scar minimisation. Furthermore, Aloe vera formulations, including pure gels, emulsions and composite dressings, can maintain a moist wound environment, which is critical for optimising angiogenesis and reducing infection risk. Recent advances in biomaterials have leveraged Aloe vera’s intrinsic polymeric character to develop hydrogels and nanofibre scaffolds that serve both as protective barriers and controlled-release platforms for therapeutic agents. The global significance of Aloe vera in resource-limited settings emphasises its low cost, broad availability and favourable safety profile. Collectively, this body of research underlines the plant’s potential to augment conventional wound-care strategies and informs the design of next-generation dressings that combine natural and synthetic elements to achieve superior clinical outcomes.
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Aloe Vera Applications in Wound Healing publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in aloe vera applications in wound healing across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Hydrogel: A three-dimensional network of hydrophilic polymers capable of retaining large amounts of water, used in moist wound dressings.
Extracellular matrix (ECM): A complex assembly of structural proteins and polysaccharides that provides mechanical support and biochemical signals to cells during tissue repair.
Fibroblast: A resident connective tissue cell responsible for producing ECM components and driving wound contraction.
Antimicrobial activity: The ability of a substance to inhibit or kill microorganisms, reducing the risk of wound infection.
Anti-inflammatory: A property that moderates the inflammatory response, promoting progression to later stages of healing.
MFAP4: Microfibril-associated glycoprotein 4, an ECM protein implicated in cell adhesion and matrix remodelling during repair.
References
- Aloe vera-Based Hydrogels for Wound Healing: Properties and Therapeutic Effects. Gels (2023).
- Extracts of Rheum palmatum and Aloe vera Show Beneficial Properties for the Synergistic Improvement of Oral Wound Healing. Pharmaceutics (2022).
- The Review on Properties of Aloe Vera in Healing of Cutaneous Wounds. BioMed Research International (2015).
- Synergistic effect of Aloe vera flower and Aloe gel on cutaneous wound healing targeting MFAP4 and its associated signaling pathway: In-vitro study. Journal of Ethnopharmacology (2022).
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