Chemical and microbiological characterization of tinctures and microcapsules loaded with Brazilian red propolis extract

Abstract

The aim of this study was to characterize tinctures and microcapsules loaded with an ethanol extract of red propolis through chemical, physicochemical and microbiological assays in order to establish quality control tools for nutraceutical preparations of red propolis. The markers (isoflavonoids, chalcones, pterocarpans, flavones, phenolic acids, terpenes and guttiferones) present in the tinctures A and B were identified and confirmed using LC/ESI/FTMS/Orbitrap. Four compositions (A, B, C and D) were prepared to contain B tincture of the red propolis with some pharmaceutical excipients and submitted to two drying processes, i. e. spray-drying and freeze-drying to obtain microcapsules loaded with the red propolis extract. The tinctures and microcapsules of the red propolis were submitted to the total flavonoid content and antioxidant activity tests. The antibacterial activity and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) were tested using Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25293 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 strains. The tinctures and microcapsules presented high flavonoid quantities from 20.50 to 40.79 mg/100 mg of the microcapsules. The antioxidant activity and IC50 were determined for the tinctures A and B (IC50: 6.95 µg/mL and 7.48 µg/mL), the spray-dried microcapsules (IC50: 8.89–15.63 µg/mL) and the freeze-dried microcapsules (IC50: 11.83–23.36 µg/mL). The tinctures and microcapsules were proved to be bioactive against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria with inhibition halos superior to 10 mm at concentration of 200 µg/mL and MIC values of 135.87–271.74 µg/mL using gram-positive strain and 271.74–543.48 µg/mL using gram-negative strain. The tinctures and microcapsules of the red propolis have a potential application for nutraceutical products.

Comprehensive multivariate correlations between climatic effect, metabolite-profile, antioxidant capacity and antibacterial activity of Brazilian red propolis metabolites during seasonal study

“…The VIP analysis also showed that all compounds assume values above 0.5 and therefore are no less important. So, we can not rule out the possibility that other flavonoids not quantified in this study and the possibility of synergistic effect with other classes of compounds such as isoflavans 31 (vestitol and neovestitol), phenolic acids, and pterocarpans 83 (medicarpin), not monitored during a seasonal study 34 . The red propolis extract can be understand as a multi-constituent mixture formed by several flavonoids, aromatic, phenolic, terpenes and guttiferones with multi-targets purpose 84 .…”

“…Our research group has been performing chromatographic profile and fingerprint studies of Brazilian red propolis. Several important flavonoids have been identified in red propolis such as liquiritigenin, pinobanksin, galangin, isoliquiritigenin, formononetin, daidzein, medicarpin, guttiferone E, guttiferone B among others 5,34 (see Table S1). Based on these fingerprint studies, some available commercially flavonoids and two laboratory isolated guttiferones were chosen to monitor the concentration of phenolic compounds present in the red propolis, thus assessing variabilities over a 1-year cycle, assessing their relationship with the climate and also variability of biological activities.…”

Evaluation of the antioxidant profile and cytotoxic activity of red propolis extracts from different regions of northeastern Brazil obtained by conventional and ultrasound-assisted extraction

“…The highest amount of phenolic compounds was identified in sample B (extracts B1 and B2), while the highest flavonoid content and highest antioxidant activity were observed in sample A (extracts A1 and A2), both from the state of Alagoas. Notably, that the Brazilian red propolis produced in Alagoas is the only propolis in the country that has a certificate of origin (geographical indication) due to the scientific recognition of its differentiated chemical composition [81,82].…”

Optimization of Spray-Drying Process of Jerusalem artichoke Extract for Inulin Production

“…The particle size of inulin powder was measured using a Malvern Zen 3600 Zeta sizer instrument (Malvern Instrument, Malvern, UK). The surface structure of inulin obtained by both freeze-drying and spray-drying was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), S-300N (Japan Hitachi, Japan) [12,14,15,24].…”