Chemical Variability and Pharmacological Potential of Propolis as a Source for the Development of New Pharmaceutical Products

Abstract

This review aims to analyze propolis as a potential raw material for the development and manufacture of new health-promoting products. Many scientific publications were retrieved from the Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases via searching the word "propolis". The different extraction procedures, key biologically active compounds, biological properties, and therapeutic potential of propolis were analyzed. It was concluded that propolis possesses a variety of biological properties because of a very complex chemical composition that mainly depends on the plant species visited by bees and species of bees. Numerous studies found versatile pharmacological activities of propolis: antimicrobial, antifungal, antiviral, antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, etc. In this review, the composition and biological activities of propolis are presented from a point of view of the origin and standardization of propolis for the purpose of the development of new pharmaceutical products on its base. It was revealed that some types of propolis, especially European propolis, contain flavonoids and phenolic acids, which could be markers for the standardization and quality evaluation of propolis and its preparations. One more focus of this paper was the overview of microorganisms’ sensitivity to propolis for further development of antimicrobial and antioxidant products for the treatment of various infectious diseases with an emphasis on the illnesses of the oral cavity. It was established that the antimicrobial activity of different types of propolis is quite significant, especially to Gram-negative bacteria and lipophilic viruses. The present study could be also of interest to the pharmaceutical industry as a review for the appropriate design of standardized propolis preparations such as mouthwashes, toothpastes, oral drops, sprays, creams, ointments, suppositories, tablets, and capsules, etc. Moreover, propolis could be regarded as a source for the isolation of biologically active substances. Furthermore, this review can facilitate partially overcoming the problem of the standardization of propolis preparations, which is a principal obstacle to the broader use of propolis in the pharmaceutical industry. Finally, this study could be of interest in the area of the food industry for the development of nutritionally well-balanced products. The results of this review indicate that propolis deserves to be better studied for its promising therapeutic effects from the point of view of the connection of its chemical composition with the locality of its collection, vegetation, appropriate extraction methods, and standardization.

Obtaining and Characterizing Andean Multi-Floral Propolis Nanoencapsulates in Polymeric Matrices

“…Several products from beekeeping are used in the food industry, especially honey and propolis [ 5 ]. Up to 850 different chemical compounds have been reported in propolis, among which flavonoids and phenolic acids stand out the most; the physical and chemical properties of propolis vary according to its geographical location, flora, altitude, climate, and type of bee [ 34 ] and there are many methods to extract and purify propolis, such as maceration and extraction assisted by high hydrostatic pressure, microwaves, and ultrasound [ 35 ]. However, the biggest challenge for its use in functional foods is preserving the bioactive components until the consumption of fortified products [ 36 ], there is still little information on propolis encapsulates in food products, although preliminary tests have been carried out on products such as cheese, pudding, refrigerated Piaractus brachypomus , and cake [ 37 , 38 , 39 ].…”

Brazilian Red Propolis Presents Promising Anti-H. pylori Activity in In Vitro and In Vivo Assays with the Ability to Modulate the Immune Response

“…Propolis, popularly known as “bee glue,” is a product produced by bees from buds, flowers and different plant exudates, to which bees add salivary secretions, wax and pollen for the final preparation of the substance [ 16 ]. In recent years, the scientific literature on propolis has been reporting promising pharmacological properties, where great antimicrobial potential can be highlighted [ 17 , 18 ]. The chemical compounds of natural products are heterogeneous and may vary according to their geographical location and the time of harvest [ 19 , 20 ].…”

Comparative Study of Antiviral, Cytotoxic, Antioxidant Activities, Total Phenolic Profile and Chemical Content of Propolis Samples in Different Colors from Turkiye

“…Also, there is a variety of propolis types classified depending on color in each country such as Brazilian green propolis, Portugal red propolis, Egyptian red propolis, etc. [ 36 ]. In recent studies, it is determined that the study of the correlations between the parameters examined revealed a significant correlation between the phenolic composition, antioxidant activity and color.…”

“…HCA was performed on a Bray–Curtis similarity with complete linkage. Heatmap and dendrograms were generated using the Euclidean distance based on Ward’s algorithm for clustering [ 36 ].…”