Planta Med 2014; 80 - P2P7
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1394844

Bioactivity evaluation of a propolis sample of Portuguese origin

ASP Freitas 1, 2, CBS Pintado 2, P Antunes 3, A Cunha 1, 4, C Almeida Aguiar 1, 4, R Oliveira 1, 4
  • 1Department of Biology, School of Sciences, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
  • 2Agrarian Superior School, Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, Portugal
  • 3CATAA – Centre of Agri-Food Technological Support, Castelo Branco, Portugal
  • 4CITAB Centre for Research and Agro-Environmental and Biological Technologies, University of Minho Pole, Braga, Portugal

Propolis is a mixture of resinous and balsamic material collected by bees from the branches, flowers, pollen, buds and exudates of trees, which are mixed with bee's salivary secretions. Its chemical composition varies with several factors and different compounds have been associated with some biological activities, namely antimicrobial; antioxidant; antigenotoxic and genotoxic; and antimutagenic [1]. In order to contribute for the research on Portuguese propolis, particularly regarding chemical characterization and bioactivities evaluation so that human applications of this natural product become possible, a sample was collected in an apiary of Gerês, North of Portugal, in 2012, for investigation. This sample was used to prepare an ethanol extract (EE), which was tested, using the simple eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae as biological model. The comet assay was performed to analyze the genotoxicity of propolis' ethanolic extract and the results suggest that the EE does not display significant genotoxic effect. In addition, cells co-incubated with the EE and 1 mM H2O2 displayed higher viability than cells simply incubated with 1 mM H2O2, suggesting that the propolis extract protects yeast cells against oxidative stress. The same antioxidant activity was also demonstrated by flow cytometry by observation of lower fluorescence of the intracelular redox-sensitive fluorochrome dichlorofluorescein diacetate in cells incubated with propolis and 1 mM H2O2 as compared with cells incubated with 1 mM H2O2. The analysis of EE-treated cells in the presence of the fluorochrome rhodamine 123 showed that propolis affects the mitochondrial membrane potential by decreasing inner membrane potential. Upon analysis by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, p-coumaric acid, pinocembrine, caffeic acid, quercetin, pinobanksina, chrysin and ferulic acid, were detected as the main compounds, similar to other EE described and possibly correlated with some of the observed bioactivities.

This work is supported by national funds by FCT – Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project PEst-OE/AGR/UI4033/2014

Keywords: Propolis, antigenotoxic, antioxidant

References:

[1] Fokt H et al. In: Current Research, Technology and Education Topics in Applied Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology. A. Mendéz-Vilas (Ed.), 481 – 493 (2010)