Propolis Extract May Help Protect Skin from UVB Damage

Development of Topical Functionalized Formulations Added with Propolis Extract: Stability, Cutaneous Absorption and In Vivo Studies
International Journal of Pharmaceutics, Article in Press

Abstract: Propolis, which is a natural product widely consumed in the folk medicine, is a serious candidate to be applied topically due to its outstanding antioxidant properties. So, the purpose of this study was to develop stable topical formulations added with propolis extract in an attempt to prevent and/or treat the diseases occurring in skin caused by UV radiation…

It was found in this study, that the formulations prepared with Polawax® showed functional and physical stability in the period of study. In addition, this formulation presented good results in the percutaneous study, allowing the antioxidant compounds present in the propolis extract to reach lower layers in pig ear skin and in the whole hairless mice skin (retention = 0.12 and 0.13 μL of propolis/g of skin, respectively).

In the in vivo study, it was also suggested that this formulation may be effective in protecting skin from UVB photodamage, nevertheless other assays need to be done in order to have a complete understanding of the protective effect of formulations added with propolis extract.