Antimicrobial, Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory, and Cytotoxic Activities of Propolis from the Stingless BeeTetragonisca fiebrigi(Jataí)

Abstract

Propolis from stingless bees Tetragonisca fiebrigi found in Brazil is used in folk medicine by their nutritional and therapeutic properties. However, there are no scientific records evidencing such properties. The present study was designed to investigate the chemical composition and the biological properties of propolis from T. fiebrigi. For this, the chemical composition of the ethanol extract of propolis (EEP) was determined by GC-MS and presented phenolic compounds, alcohol, and terpenes as its major class compounds. The antimicrobial activity was accessed in gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and in fungi, isolated from different biological fluids and reference strains. The EEP was active against all microorganisms and showed antioxidant activity by scavenging free radicals, inhibiting hemolysis and lipid peroxidation in human erythrocytes incubated with an oxidizing agent. The anti-inflammatory potential of the EEP was confirmed by inhibition of the hyaluronidase enzyme. The cytotoxic activity was concentration-dependent against K562 cells, with a predominance of death by necrosis. Taken together, these results show that propolis from T. fiebrigi has important therapeutic activities, which suggest its potential application in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as in health foods, beverages, and nutritional supplements.

Melipona mondury produces a geopropolis with antioxidant, antibacterial and antiproliferative activities

“…EEGP and its fractions had no bactericidal effects on CA-MRSA at the test concentrations (MIC > 1000 μg/mL). These results demonstrate that all of the samples were bactericidal agents (MIC/MBC ≤ 4), except for EAFGP (MBC/MIC = 40), according to French (2006 Campos et al (2015) found that the ethanolic extract of Tetragonisca fiebrigi geopropolis (known as Jataí) had antibacterial effects on two strains of S. aureus (MIC = 0.55-0.65 mg/mL and MBC ˃ 1000 µg/mL) and P. aeruginosa (MIC and MBC ˃ 1000 µg/mL). In these studies, it was suggested that prenylated benzophenones , diterpene kaurenoic acid (Velikova et al 2000), cinnamic acid (Campos et al 2015), and p-coumaric acid (Campos et al 2015) in the different types of geopropolis were responsible for their antibacterial properties.…”

“…In our study, the amount of reducing compounds was much higher than that found by Souza et al (2013) in M. subnitida geopropolis from Paraiba state, Brazil (ranging from 25.6 ± 0.5 to 115.8 ± 0.8 µg GAE/mg). This suggests that the bee species and/or its habitat influence the chemical composition of geopropolis (Campos et al 2015).…”

“…Unfortunately, the incubation time employed by Cunha et al (2013) was not stated. Propolis has also been reported to have cytotoxic effects against several tumor cell lines , 2016, Cinegaglia et al 2013, Campos et al 2015. Thus, we evaluated the in vitro antiproliferative potential of M. mondury geopropolis in four cell tumor lines: B16-F10, HepG2, HL-60, and K562 (Table III).…”

“…E/Z communic acid is a diterpene (Barrero et al 2012) with several known pharmacological properties, including antimicrobial, antitumoral, antiinflammatory, and antioxidant activities (Velikova et al 2000, Popova et al 2009, Barrero et al 2012, Campos et al 2015.…”

“…Studies of different types of geopropolis have demonstrated their significant antinociceptive , anti-inflammatory , Campos et al 2015, antioxidant , Campos et al 2014, immunomodulatory (Liberio et al 2011), antibacterial (Liberio et al 2011, Campos et al 2014, and antiproliferative , Campos et al 2014 activities. Their chemical compositions are extremely complex and their diversity depends on the flora visited and the season (Marcucci 1995, Bankova et al 2000, Sforcin and Bankova 2011.…”