STUDIES ON ANTIMICROBIAL AND ANTHELMINTIC POTENTIAL OF ALOE

Aloe is one of the ancient herbal medicinal plants used widely in the Indian subcontinent. The plant also finds therapeutic role in modern medicine. The present work was aimed to determine the antimicrobial activity of aloe. Successive soxhlet extraction was done and all the extracts were subjected to phytoanalytical studies viz. determination of phenolics, flavonoids, carbohydrates, proteins and ascorbic acid. The ethyl acetate extract was subjected to antimicrobial studies. The results demonstrated excellent antimicrobial potential of aloe extract as compared to tetracycline and amphotericin B. Thus it could be concluded that aloe is an integral source of antimicrobial compounds. However, further exhaustive studies are underway to determine compounds responsible for it.