I have been looking for this scientific study for quite some time and now I have it and I am ready to share it with you. Why did this1953 study have anything to do with the discovery of Acemannan? Well it served mostly as an initial catalyst and an attention-getter and was the study that scientists had in hand in the 1980s as they began in earnest to know what exactly was the healing component in the Aloe vera plant. It is a very interesting study and more interesting story. Let me tell it.
In 1953, the world was still reeling from the dawn of the nuclear age. It had only been eight short years earlier that atomic bombs has been dropped. The Cold War was underway and escalating. School children were going through drills to know how to duck under their desks in the event of an attack. Fallout shelters were being dug across American backyards. And scientists, like Dr. Clarence C. Lushbaugh, were racing to understand radiation’s effects on the human body—and how to heal the damage it caused. The kind of damage radiation burns leave behind isn’t just skin-deep—it’s cellular, aggressive, and painfully slow to repair.
Dr. Lushbaugh was the lead researcher in five studies all under one main title with different subtitles. The main title was called:
“Experimental Acute Radiodermatitis Following Beta Irradiation” and here are the subtitles:
- Its pathogenesis and repair. It explored what happens under the surface—from the first signs of redness and inflammation to deeper tissue breakdown—and how the body responds over time. Think of it as the big-picture overview of how skin reacts to radiation and tries to recover.
- The inhibition of fibroplasia. Fibroplasia is essential for proper healing to bring restoration through collegen fibers. Radiation seems to stop or slow down this healing step. This study showed that radiation interferes with the body’s ability to lay down scar tissue and rebuild the damaged area, which may explain why healing is delayed or incomplete after radiation exposure.
- The changes in water, fat, and protein content. This study tracked how radiation messes with the basic building blocks of skin. The skin might become unusually dry, swollen, or nutritionally depleted—making it harder to heal and more prone to injury.
- Changes in respiration and glycolysis. Glycolysis is also essential for healing. Cells in the skin need energy to heal. Radiation disrupts that energy supply—like cutting power to a construction site. This helps explain why damaged skin cells struggle to recover and repair after radiation exposure.
- And the fifth subtitle under Experimental Acute Radiodermatitis Following Beta Irradiation is Histopathological Study of the Mode of Action of Therapy with Aloe Vera
Published in Cancer, Vol. 6, July 1953, by Lushbaugh & Hale.
The first four studies examine what radiation does to the skin—its damage pathways, how it disrupts healing mechanisms like fibroplasia and energy production (that would be the Glycolysis), and how it alters basic tissue composition. These were observational and diagnostic, helping researchers understand the problem.
But the fifth study shifted focus. It’s no longer just about the damage—it’s about how to heal it.
This fifth study of five marks a turning point. Instead of watching radiation destroy, it investigated what happens when you intervene—with aloe vera. It was therapeutic, not just diagnostic. It explored how aloe influenced cell regeneration, inflammation, and tissue repair, offering a hopeful contrast to the previous findings in the first four studies.
Histopathological literally means the study of diseased tissue and they employed lab animals, namely rabbits.
Dr. Lushbaugh and Dr. D.B. Hale exposed the shaved backs of rabbits to beta radiation, mimicking the kind of skin damage human beings might face in a nuclear fallout scenario. But what they tested next was not like the first four studies: They threw Aloe vera in the mix. Specifically, the fresh leaf gel. An ointment made with aloe. Also included were controls. Remember, what a control portion of an experiment is? A control in an experiment is the group that does not receive any treatment, so researchers can clearly see what effects—if any—are caused by the treatment itself by comparing it to the control (untreated) group.
Think of it as the “baseline” that shows what would happen without the intervention.
These would be the rabbits that were given no treatment.
Applications of the aloe vera were made once daily (except Sundays), after all it was 1953. The study includes various photographs of the skin of rabbits, which I have chosen not to include here, however, I will give verbal explanation
The untreated skin, the control group, was inflamed, ulcerated, and barely healing. But the aloe-treated areas—especially those treated with aloe vera ointment—showed something remarkable: rapid healing, complete epithelial regrowth (meaning skin regrowth) and significantly less scarring or vascular damage. By two months, those wounds cause by beta radiation damage were healed. The untreated ones were not yet healed after four months.
By the way: complete skin re-growth matters because:
It signals true healing, not just scabbing or temporary closure.
Restoration of skin is vital because it protects the body from infection, dehydration, and further injury.
And this idea of the skin getting back to normal is considered a clinical milestone in any burn recovery or radiation treatment success.
The results were so compelling that they reached into the future and into the ears of a man named Clinton Howard—the founder of Carrington Laboratories. This is where he put together a team of pharmaceutical research scientists in the 1980’s. Understand that the Cold War, as we comprehend it, was not to end until around 1991, so this issue of dealing with radiation impact was still simmering in the mind of scientists. However, Carrington Labs would eventually be so impressed with what they discovered about Acemannan that they saw it as an opportunity to take Acemannan into the pharmaceutical drug market. They felt it fully qualified because of how efficacious it was
That was certainly part of their goal. To find and stabilize the powerful healing compounds in aloe vera—especially the mysterious polysaccharide that seemed to drive these results. And they didn’t even know enough at that point in its early history to realize that they were even trying to locate a polysaccharide in particular. As a matter of fact their first research efforts included the hypothesis that what they were not looking for a polysaccharide (a sugar), but for a protein.
Of course, the compound they eventually discovered and stabilized was indeed a polysaccharide and would later be named Acemannan in 1985. 32 years after Dr. Lushbaugh’s initial research.
It goes without saying that in 1953, Dr. Lushbaugh didn’t have a name for it—he simply had results. And you know what, those results weren’t new; they echoed outcomes seen across millennia among those who applied the Aloe vera leaf to various burns and wounds. The difference included the fact that the burns in question were now a part of a modern nuclear age. But even those kinds of burns, the most grievous of all burns, were finding relief in the presence of aloe. What made Dr. Lushbaugh’s work different was that he organized a formal study to dig deeper into what others had only witnessed anecdotally. And those results sparked a decades-long pursuit that led to patents, proprietary stabilization techniques, and a new category of plant-based immunomodulators. And if you are paying attention to all the scientific studies that we publish, you know that that is only the short list of biological impacts.
• This 1953 endeavor was the study that launched an entire sector of botanical research.
It legitimized Aloe vera as a serious external therapeutic—not just a folk remedy found in a plant your grandmother kept by the south-facing kitchen window, but a scientifically validated healing agent worthy of scientific and personal attention.
• However, Carrington Labs would take it to internal nutraceutical realms. It showed the world that the inner leaf held something much more. Something powerful. And that it could be consumed internally as a natural compound with compelling benefits.
How serious they were, measured in economic terms, meant they would invest $100 million into this project. For the era, this was substantial and, adjusted for inflation, would exceed $300 million today. This placed it on par with the cost of developing a synthetic pharmaceutical drug. Such an investment reflected Carrington’s commitment to validating Acemannan, signaling its aim to achieve drug-like credibility in the clinical world, but without the toxicity. And because it was not toxic, it did not qualify for drug approval, but it has found its place in nutraceutical markets, though technically it remains a best-kept secret to most.
So when we talk about Acemannan today, or stabilized aloe extracts used in advanced immune support and wound-care protocols—we trace the lineage back to this fifth study.
To a handful of rabbits.
To a gel-filled leaf.
To a moment when history, health, and healing all intersected.
If you’ve ever wondered why aloe vera became a subject of pharmaceutical interest—or why Carrington Laboratories even existed—look no further than this page in medical history.
This wasn’t just science. It was the start of a movement.
I’m Tony McWilliams and I hope you will always be careful to maintain good works to meet urgent needs and become heroes to your generation.