Chemical Composition and Biological Activity of Propolis from Brazilian Meliponinae

Abstract

Twenty-one propolis samples produced by 12 different Meliponinae species were analyzed by GC-MS. Several chemical types of stingless bees’ propolis could be grouped, according to the prevailing type of compounds like: “gallic acid”, “diterpenic” and “triterpenic” types. The results confirm that neither the bee species nor the geographical location determine the chemical composition of Meliponinae propolis and the choice of its plant source, respectively. This could be explained by the fact that Meliponinae forage over short distances (maximum 500 m) and thus use as propolis source the first plant exudate they encounter during their flights. The antibacterial, antifungal and cytotoxic activities of the samples were also investigated. Most samples had weak or no activity against E. coli, weak action against Candida albicans. Some of them showed significant activity against St. aureus., presumably connected to the high concentration of diterpenic acids. Samples rich in diterpenic acids possessed also high cytotoxic activity (Artemia salina test).

The chemical composition and pharmacological activities of geopropolis produced by Melipona fasciculata Smith in northeast Brazil

“…In general, Africanized honeybees visit predominantly the same plants to produce propolis, and its chemical composition is qualitatively the same in the geographic region where it was produced [17]. On the other hand, propolis and geopropolis produced by stingless bees show a wide variation even among samples from the same region, since they collect material from plants near their hives, what may explain the differences in the pharmacological activities of such samples [18]. Time kill curves were carried out to verify a possible bactericidal or bacteriostatic activity of geopropolis.…”

Chemical composition and antioxidant activity of geopropolis produced by Melipona fasciculata (Meliponinae) in flooded fields and cerrado areas of Maranhão State, northeastern Brazil

“…Gallic acid and its derivatives have been identified in geopropolis and propolis of stingless bees in the Brazilian states of Maranhão (Dutra et al 2014), Pernambuco, Paraná, São Paulo (Velikova et al 2000), Piauí (Bankova et al 1998) and Tocantins (Araújo et al 2016).…”

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry fingerprinting of propolis of native Brazilian stingless bees

“…Bankova et al (1999) studied the essential oil content of propolis from three native stingless bees via gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Velikova et al (2000a) studied the composition of ethanolic extracts of several samples of propolis from different species of native Brazilian stingless bees, concluding the chemical composition of the propolis samples analyzed was heterogeneous. Velikova et al (2000b) isolated three ent-kaurene diterpenoids from a sample of Melipona quadrifasciata (M. quadrifasciata) propolis.…”