Differences in Metabolite Composition of Aloe barbadensis Mill. Extracts Lead to Differential Effects on Human Blood T Cell Activity In Vitro
Journal article, 2022

Aloe barbadensis Mill. (Aloe) is used for diverse therapeutic properties including immunomodulation. However, owing to the compositionally complex nature of Aloe, bioactive component(s) responsible for its beneficial properties, though thought to be attributed to polysaccharides (acemannan), remain unknown. We therefore aimed to determine the metabolite composition of various commercial Aloe extracts and assess their effects on human blood T cell activity in vitro. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from healthy donors were stimulated polyclonally in presence or absence of various Aloe extracts. T cell phenotype and proliferation were investigated by flow cytometry. Aloe extracts were analyzed using targeted 1H-NMR spectroscopy for standard phytochemical quality characterization and untargeted gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for metabolite profiling. Aloe extracts differing in their standard phytochemical composition had varying effects on T cell activation, proliferation, apoptosis, and cell-death in vitro, although this was not related to the acemannan content. Furthermore, each Aloe extract had its own distinct metabolite profile, where extracts rich in diverse sugar and sugar-derivatives were associated with reduced T cell activity. Our results demonstrate that all commercial Aloe extracts are unique with distinct metabolite profiles, which lead to differential effects on T cell activity in vitro, independent of the acemannan content.

bioactive composition

T cells activity

Aloe

metabolomics

Author

Bani Ahluwalia

Calmino Group AB

University of Gothenburg

Maria K. Magnusson

University of Gothenburg

Fredrik Larsson

Calmino Group AB

Otto Savolainen

University of Eastern Finland

Chalmers, Biology and Biological Engineering, Systems and Synthetic Biology

Alastair Ross

Chalmers, Biology and Biological Engineering, Food and Nutrition Science

AgResearch Lincoln

Lena Öhman

University of Gothenburg

Molecules

1420-3049 (ISSN) 14203049 (eISSN)

Vol. 27 19 6643

Infrastructure

Chalmers Infrastructure for Mass spectrometry

Subject Categories

Immunology

Cell and Molecular Biology

Medical Biotechnology (with a focus on Cell Biology (including Stem Cell Biology), Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Biochemistry or Biopharmacy)

DOI

10.3390/molecules27196643

More information

Latest update

10/26/2023