Abstract

Natural products, including plants, animals and minerals have been used in the treatment of human diseases. Modern or allopathic medicines have been developed by scientific and observational efforts of scientists skilled in Chemistry, Molecular Biology and Clinical Medicine. Ancient wisdom forms the basis of traditional medicine and is important for future medicine and therapeutics. Wise use of complementary ancient and modern therapeutic skills make natural products drug discovery much

more holistic and personalized for maximum benefit. We demonstrate use of Aloe Vera in mucoadhesive formulation for localised drug delivery of bioactive in oral ulcer. Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis (RAS) is one of the most common oral cavity lesions, with reported prevalence from 5 to 50% in different populations. It is a recurrent spontaneously healing lesion mostly affecting the lips, soft palate and throat. Aloe Vera is a tropical plant with succulent leaves, grown in North Africa and most parts of Asia and used for thousands of years as herbal medicine. Recent studies on the gel of the Aloe Vera leaves have revealed that it might confer benefit in a wide range of inflammatory diseases, including healing of different types of wounds. The transparent gel derived from Aloe Vera leaves contains a series of natural components with wound healing potential, making it a good candidate for minor RAS. Immunomodulatory property is conferred by glucomannans, a class of long-chained sugars derived from plants. Aloe barbadensis Miller and Aloe arborescens Miller contain the largest concentrations of acetylmannan, the most active form existing in nature. Acemannan hydrogel accelerates healing of aphthous ulcers and reduces pain associated with them. The present work focuses on development of different gel formulations of Aloe vera for oral cavity. Various excipients were tried to furnish formulations with desired physical properties including longer mucosal residence time to deliver the active at the target site. Analytical methods were designed and standardized to evaluate the active content. Specifications of the final formulation were set to design a quality product. The newly developed  ormulation was evaluated as antibacterial and antifungal agent. Results confirmed the efficacy in the orodental and oral cavity infections. The formulations have all quality parameters defined and their stability and effectiveness demonstrated.