About Alo

Aloesin – the newer… upcoming…  multifunctional skin care ingredient

Bio-Solve Pty Ltd is a South African company that produces and markets Aloesin under licence from the CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research).  Aloesin is one of the newer, upcoming, multifunctional natural skin care ingredients and is one of the efficacious, safer skin lighteners.  Bio-Solve extracts and crystallises Aloesin to a high purity (>95% on HPLC).

Aloesin is a natural chemical extracted from the Aloe Ferox plants that have not been artificially fertilized or sprayed with insecticides or fungicides.  It is extracted from the bitter sap of the Aloe Ferox plant which therefore does not contain any additives.  The Aloe Ferox plant is an abundant species growing wild in its natural habitat in the South Cape region in South Africa.   The traditional manner of collecting the bitter sap from the leaves of this species, continues on a sustainable basis and does not present any threat to the environment.

Aloesin from Aloe Ferox :  a plant indigenous to South Africa

Aloe Process

The Aloesin from Aloe Ferox story

The Aloe Ferox plant grows in the wild free of pesticides, herbicides or other chemicals. The leaves are harvested by dedicated and trained tappers so as not to harm or stem the growth of the plants

The first harvest can take place once the aloe has reached a height of five hundred millimeters and there are sufficient leaves on the plant. The top few leaves are never harvested.  The leaves are harvested so as to protect the growth of the plant, i.e. renewable plant source.

• The harvester would arm themselves with a sickle, strong gloves, a rubber or leather sheet, a spade and several pieces of plastic.

• At a central point among a group of approximately 50 plants a shallow drainage basin is scraped and lined with the plastic sheet.
• The leaves of the plant are scored with a sickle to facilitate the drainage of the sap.
• The leaves are stacked, with the cut end facing inwards so that the bitter sap can drain into the depression, in circle around the edge of the plastic sheet or other suitable container.
• The sap is allowed to drain from the leaves into the covered hole under gravity.  .
• The pile of leaves looks like an inverted and would contain approximately 500—600 leaves.

Aloesin is extracted from the Aloe Bitters Sap obtained from the leave using a solvent extraction process.  The Aloesin is isolated, crystalised and purified as a powder to greater than 95% pure (HPLC).

The Story of the Aloe as a ‘miracle plant’

The world over users reveres aloe for its numerous properties. Healing, detoxifying, anti-inflammatory, Anti-Bacterial, Anti-Viral and Anti-Parasitic – and those are only the ways in which aloe helps in maintaining personal wellness.

Aloe is also particularly well suited to skincare. It is rich in polysaccharides and other plant metabolites, as well as contains amino acids and minerals, so it contributes to soft and smooth skin that is hydrated, nourished and rejuvenated. The bitter sap, in addition, contains powerful anti-oxidant properties – an ancient source of a modern cosmetic buzzword.

An age-old tale of miraculous healing

The application of applying aloe for a wide range of conditions is as timeless as the mountains and rocky hills the plant grows best in. Ancient knowledge of medicinal plants, passed down from generation to generation, has in recent years become an increasingly important research area for pharmaceutical, wellness and cosmetic companies.

In the oldest references, Egyptians recorded aloe’s role in hygiene and religion in carvings on the Pyramids, while Southern Africa’s Khoi and San depicted its use in rock paintings. Respected Greek, Roman, Hebrew, Arabian, Chinese, Indian, Mexican and West Indian healers also prescribed aloe, while scholars noted its benefits.

For centuries indigenous healers have treated man and beast successfully with aloe preparations. In Xhosa culture it is applied to fresh and inflamed wounds to encourage healing and is a known cure for ringworms and tapeworms, boils and ulcers. Aloe is used to treat enteritis in calves and fowls, as well as roundworm in the Zulu culture, while the Pondo mix aloe juice and water for a refreshing body wash. An extract, bitters, is ingested to help with detoxification, as well as gout, rheumatism and arthritis, stomach and digestive ailments. Other recorded uses include: insect bites and bluebottle stings, fungi, toothache, sunburn, as protection against the elements and to stimulate the immune system, to name a few.

During the age of exploration, Spanish mariners realised the plant’s value and carried aloe on board to treat cuts, burns and chafing, while missionaries further spread word of its uses through the New World.

In the aftermath of the nuclear bombing of Japan in 1945, however, the plant’s status was elevated irrevocably when a scientist reported that radiation burns treated with an Aloe Ferox extract healed considerably faster than what could be expected from any treatment. Since then, aloe preparations have also been applied to burns as a result of x-ray and radiation treatment.

This news sparked an explosion in the Aloe Vera market in the US, giving the species celebrity status in the wellness and beauty industries.  Africa, on the other hand, boasts over 300 species of aloe. The most beneficial of these is South Africa’s Aloe ferox, or Cape Aloe, which is one of very few plant species that enjoys the honour of being depicted in San rock art.

Aloe ferox well-earned reputation

A proud sentinel along the roads and rivers of the Hessequa, the entrance to the Garden Route near Albertinia, the robust Aloe Ferox has thicker leaves than its famous cousin. These are covered in short and stubby thorns to protect it from herbivores and harbour the valuable gel and bitter sap that are harvested.

Aloe Ferox plants grown in this area in particular have been proven to have 36% more total amino acids in its gel and 20 times more of the bitter sap containing the beneficial substance aloin and Aloesin than Aloe Vera.  Local specimens have the highest aloin content in the country – and therefore the world – at up to 28% of the bitter sap.  Similar higher percentages of Aloesin are present in the Sap.   In contrast, Aloe vera contains very little bitter sap and therefore very small amounts of aloin and Aloesin.

New research is ongoing, with one study in Japan in 2006 suggesting that Aloe ferox’s tumour reducing properties are not due to any one compound, but the synergistic effect of a combination, once again illustrating the power of this gift from nature.

In 1967, a surgeon on Prof Chris Barnard’s first heart transplant team noted how the application of Aloe Ferox gel to wounds accelerated the reproduction of the cells responsible for the formation of collagen, which is vital for skin strength and elasticity.

For years, the bitter sap has been harvested and exported to Europe and Asia for inclusion in a range of products.

However, Aloe Ferox’s reputation convinced the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in the late 1980s to sponsor a two year study by eminent scientists at the University of Cape Town to better understand the plant’s potent active ingredients and their particular interaction.

In the product area, you can read the testimonials from our customers to find out how our products made a real difference to their lives.

THE ALOE BIOLOGY

Aloesin specifications

Properties of Aloesin

Aloesin is cited in literature to have multi-functional benefits for the cosmetic industry.

Skin whitening properties

Aloesin, a compound isolated from the aloe plant, has been proven to prevent the formation of melanin, the compound causing darkening of the skin, through competitively inhibiting the action of the enzyme, tyrosinase. Studies have shown that melanin is inhibited by Aloesin in a dose-dependent manner (Jones et al., 2002)

Rovi Cosmetics has recently launched Unitone at the In- Cosmetics show in 2011 Unitone contains Aloesin and Vitamin C . They made the following claims amongst other – ‘UniTone’ lightens skin in two ways – by inhibiting tyrosinase as well as reducing intracellular and extracellular melanin content. It has been proven that skin lightening products that target several aspects of melanogenesis work better than ones that only target one aspect. Also see Rovi Cosmetics claims on Unitone at http://allaboutskinlightening.net/2011/03/new-ingredient-unitone-to-be-launched-by-rovi-cosmetics.html

Synergistic action in combinative therapies

Aloesin, along with arbutin, a skin whitener, was observed to synergistically inhibit melanin production by combined mechanisms of noncompetitive and competitive inhibitions of tyrosinase activity (Jin et al., 1999)

Treatment of hypopigmentation

Although less effective than hydroquinone when used as single therapy, aloesin is safer, and has been most successfully used in hypopigmenting regimens for its syngergistic activity in combination therapies with two or more agents acting on various mechanisms (Pigment. Cell. Res. 2006;19:550-71)

Even though Aloesin appears to be an important component in the armament against hyperpigmentation disorders, its hydrophilic nature renders it less able than hydroquinone to penetrate the skin (Dermatol. Ther. 2007;20:308-13).

However, some believe that its slower penetration of the skin endows Aloesin with greater potential as a skin-lightening agent for cosmetic purposes (Pigment. Cell. Res. 2006;19:550-71).

UV Protection

Evidence of the UV protection of Aloesin was shown by Choi et al, when a topical application of aloesin on UV-irradiated (210 mJ) human volar forearm (four times a day for 15 days) showed pigmentation suppression in a dosedependent manner (Choi et al., 2002). It has also excellent properties of absorption in the ultraviolet and particularly in the UV-B region. For this reason it is also used as constituent of various sunscreen formulations. An excerpt from the link: (Clin. Exp. Dermatol.2002;27:513-5). ‘…investigators noted that Aloesin dose-dependently inhibited UV-induced pigmentation and concluded that the compound may be a suitable agent for blocking UV-induced melanin formation’ .  T

he following citation is also relevant: ‘Antioxidant, free radical scavenging and anti-inflammatory effects of aloesin derivatives in Aloe vera’.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12451482

Anti-inflammatory

The possible anti Inflamatory properties of Aloesin is cited in Anti-inflammatory constituents, aloesin and aloemannan in Aloe Species http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12875235 .  A comparison of anti-inflamatory activities between aloe gel extracts, aloesin and aloin was perfomed by Park and colleagues (Park et al., 2011). This work indicated that in rats, Aloesin was the most effective inhibitor of inflammation in the model employed.

Safety

Recent work has indicated that Aloesin is safe, with no, or minimal toxological activity towards rats (Lynch et al 2011a). Genotoxic assays also indicated its safety as a food additive (Lynch et al 2011b). Even though these works have shown Aloesin to be safe, we will have to prove it for ourselves.

Biological Properties

1. 1.     Non-competitive inhibitor of tyrosinase enzyme responsible for melanin pigment formation in human skin (Yagi et al., 1987)
2. Hepatoprotective factor: stimulates cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo
3. Derivatives of aloesin have been observed to exhibit free radical scavenging and anti-inflammatory activity, and this compound has also been reported to modulate the formation of melanin (melanogenesis).

Aloesin Production

The Aloe Ferox plant grows in the wild. The leaves are harvested so as to protect the growth of the plant, i.e. renewable plant source. Aloe Ferox has a higher percentage of Aloesin compared with the Aloe Vera species. Aloesin is extracted from the sap of the Aloe Ferox leaf. It is isolated as a powder which is >95% pure (HPLC). Aloe Ferox, a plant species prevalent in South Africa, and found predominantly in the Eastern and Western Cape, grows in the wild, free of chemicals, pesticides and herbicides.

The aloe bitter sap comprises of aloin , aloesin, aloeresin- the composition of which varies dependent on the botanical source of material

The sap may be subjected to chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis in converting aloeresin to aloesin and p-coumaric acid

The amount of Aloesin available for extraction is therefore increased and the extraction of Aoesin is made easier and less costly.

Isolation of the crude aloesin is done by removal with suitable solvents.

Purification of the crude aloesin is by by recrystallisation in solvents

The complete Aloesin production process is described in patent  number WO 2006/097811 A1, granted to the CSIR:  Method for converting Aloeresin to Aloesin.