Thursday, June 26, 2008

Algerian Propolis Shows Antiviral, Antimicrobial, Antioxidant Activity

Antiviral, Antimicrobial, Antioxidant Activities and Chemical Composition of Algerian Propolis

Ahmed G. Hegazi, Faten K. Abd El Hady, Kamel H. Shaker, Naiema Modear, and Saadi Houcine, Deptartment of Zoonosis, National Research Center, Giza, Egypt, Deptartment of Chemistry of Natural Products, National Research Center, Giza, Egypt; Faculty of Science and Pharmacy, Mohamed Boudiaf University, Masila, Algeria

[Presented at APIMEDICA and APIQUALITY 2008 in Rome.]

Summary: Four Algerian propolis samples were investigated by GC/MS, 87 compounds were identified, 21 being new to propolis. Propolis (1) was characterized by the presence of: 2.48% of caffeate esters and isoferulate esters (2.47%). Propolis (2) was characterized by the presence of 13.1% sterols, 3 new valeric acid derivatives (5.75%), the new 3-hexanyl- octyldihydroferulate ester, furofuran & benzofuran lignans (11.43%). Sample (3) contained 35% of benzoic acid, new valeric acid derivatives (2.37%) benzofuran lignan (2.61.%). Sample (4) characterized by the presence of 32.44% fatty acid esters mainly for hexadecanoic and oleic acids, 7 of them are new to propolis. It was also characterized by the presence of 13.24 % sterols, 4 of them are new to propolis.

The antiviral activity of propolis samples against avian reo virus (ARV), Bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV) and infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) was evaluated. All propolis samples reduced the viral infectivity in variable degree according to the propolis origin. Propolis sample (4) showed the highest activity against all viruses.

The antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus; Escherichia coli and Candida albicans was also investigated. The propolis samples showed inhibition in the growth of the examined pathogens but the inhibition varied according to the propolis origin.

The antioxidant activity of four propolis samples were evaluated with three different assays; DPPH free radical scavenging assay, superoxide anion generated in xanthine –xanthine oxidase (XOD) system and low density lipoprotein (LDL) peroxidation assay. The propolis samples (2-4) had the highest antioxidant activity in the DPPH assay. The samples (3 and 2) had the highly significant antioxidant activity in XOD system. Propolis samples (3 and 1) had the highly significant antioxidant activity in LDL peroxidation assays.

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