Aloe genus plants: From farm to food applications and phytopharmacotherapy

• Published in: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Main Author: Salehi B.; Albayrak S.; Antolak H.; Kręgiel D.; Pawlikowska E.; Sharifi-Rad M.; Uprety Y.; Fokou P.V.T.; Yousef Z.; Zakaria Z.A.; Varoni E.M.; Sharopov F.; Martins N.; Iriti M.; Sharifi-Rad J.
• Format: Review
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85053727057&doi=10.3390%2fijms19092843&partnerID=40&md5=311553598e082c6df6e07395efcdd1c6

Aloe genus plants, distributed in Old World, are widely known and have been used for centuries as topical and oral therapeutic agents due to their health, beauty, medicinal, and skin care properties. Among the well-investigated Aloe species are A. arborescens, A. barbadensis, A. ferox, and A. vera. Today, they account among the most economically important medicinal plants and are commonly used in primary health treatment, where they play a pivotal role in the treatment of various types of diseases via the modulation of biochemical and molecular pathways, besides being a rich source of valuable phytochemicals. In the present review, we summarized the recent advances in botany, phytochemical composition, ethnobotanical uses, food preservation, and the preclinical and clinical efficacy of Aloe plants. These data will be helpful to provide future directions for the industrial and medicinal use of Aloe plants. © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.