How diverse is the chemistry and plant origin of Brazilian propolis?

Abstract

Propolis is a honey bee product containing chiefly beeswax and resins originated from plant buds or exudates. Propolis resin exerts a diversity of biological activities, such as antitumoral, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and defense of the hive against pathogens. Chemical standardization and identification of botanical sources is crucial for characterization of propolis. Types of Brazilian propolis are characteristic of geographical regions and respective biomes, such as savannas (Cerrado), mangroves, dry forest (Caatinga), rain forests (Amazon, Atlantic, and Interior forests), altitudinal fields ("Campos Rupestres"), Pantanal, and Araucaria forests. Despite the wide diversity of Brazilian biomes and flora, relatively few types of Brazilian propolis and corresponding resin plant sources have been reported. Factors accounting for the restricted number of known types of Brazilian propolis and plant sources are tentatively pointed out. Among them, the paper discusses constraints that honey bees must overcome to collect plant exudates, including the characteristics of the lappingchewing mouthpart of honey bee, which limit their possibilities to cut and chew plant tissues, as well as chemical requirements that plant resins must fulfil, involving antimicrobial activity of its constituents and innocuity to the insects. Although much still needs to be done toward a more comprehensive picture of Brazilian propolis types and corresponding plant origins, the prospects indicate that the actual diversity of plant sources of honey bee propolis will remain relatively low.

Active Potential of Bacterial Cellulose-Based Wound Dressing: Analysis of Its Potential for Dermal Lesion Treatment

“…Similar behavior was found for the analysis of total phenolic compounds, where the samples containing the ethanolic extract of red propolis were the ones that presented the highest values for this property (1084.10 mgGAE g −1 and 1228.33 mgGAE g −1 for samples F4 and F5, respectively), while sample F1 did not present any phenolic compounds in its composition. Different values for TFC and TPC among ethanolic extracts of distinct types of propolis have already been reported by other authors, where this behavior is commonly associated with geographic and climatic variations from where these samples are obtained [52,[113][114][115]. The presence of phenolic compounds, including flavonoid compounds, during the healing process may result in the control of inflammatory activity.…”

Antimicrobial Triterpenoids and Ingol Diterpenes from Propolis of Semi-Arid Region of Morocco

“…Further, suggestions for the botanical origin of the propolis sample analyzed were made based on the comparison between propolis chemistry and the literature data for the plants from which the compounds were previously isolated. The knowledge of the plant sources is, in fact, knowledge of the bees’ choice and preference to certain appropriate resin sources [ 54 ], whose availability to the beehives is essential for the wellbeing of the bee colony, as well as for the high quality of propolis [ 2 , 55 ].…”

Perspectives for Uses of Propolis in Therapy against Infectious Diseases

“…Propolis of the same type may present widely distinct contents of total phenolic components. An inverse proportion of the contents of triterpenoids versus phenolic substances is observed in green propolis derived from Baccharis dracunculifolia in Bolivia and Brazil [ 19 , 20 ]. Propolis containing high phenolic contents are likely to have high antioxidant and antibacterial activity, in contrast with propolis of the same type with high contents of triterpenoids and beeswax and low amounts of phenolic components.…”