Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Safe Concentrations for Use of Red Propolis

Antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity of red propolis: an alert as to its safe use

J Appl Microbiol. 2015 Jun 18

AIMS: Red propolis is a resinous product popularly consumed in Brazil since it improves health and it is considered a nutraceutical. The objective of this study was to test the antimicrobial activity of eight samples of red propolis from Brazil and Cuba in order to assess the possibility of application of this natural product as an antimicrobial agent, along with a study of its cytotoxic activity against non-tumor cell lines to evaluate at which concentrations it could be safely used.

METHODS AND RESULTS: The chemical profile of the samples was evaluated by UHPLC-MS. All the samples presented activity against all the bacteria tested using agar diffusion and serial dilution in broth and displaying a better activity for most Gram negative bacteria with MIC in the range between 6.25 μg.mL-1 to 500 μg.mL-1 . However our studies also revealed an inherent cytotoxic effect against HaCaT human keratinocytes and BALBc 3T3.

CONCLUSIONS: In order to have a non-cytotoxic and safe use of red propolis, it is necessary to use a concentration below the IC50 cytotoxic values.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF STUDY: The traditional use of propolis does not necessarily guarantee its safety. The evaluation of the safety of bioactive natural products should always be considered together with the evaluation of the activity

No comments: