Curr. Pers. MAPs 86 Review article Curr. Pers. MAPs, (2022); 5(1): 86-105 Current Perspectives on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants An International Journal ISSN: 2619-9645 | e-ISSN: 2667-5722 Bee Venom and its Biological Effects Nurten ABACI 1* , Ilkay ERDOGAN ORHAN 1 1 Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Gazi University, 06330 Ankara, Türkiye E-mail: nurtenabaci@gazi.edu.tr ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4144-7074 E-mail: iorhan@gazi.edu.tr ORCID ID: 0000-0002-7379-5436 *Corresponding author: nurtenabaci@gazi.edu.tr https://doi.org/10.38093/cupmap.1127949 Received: 08/06/2022 Accepted: 28/06/2022 Abstract Apitherapy is defined as “the use of Apis mellifera L. products such as royal jelly, pollen, honey, propolis, beeswax, and bee venom (BV) in the treatment of ailments”. Although honey is the primary product acquired, other bee products are also obtained in Turkey. These commodities, in addition to being utilized as nutrition, have been employed to promote human health since ancient times owing to the biologically active compounds they contain. BV is increasingly commonly used in apitherapy and has a wide range of biological effects including antiviral, antidiabetic, anticancer, antirheumatic, anticoagulant, antibacterial, anti-cancer, anti-aging, neuroprotective, analgesic, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, and anti-asthmatic properties. According to the literature, BV has promising biological implications for human health, which constitutes the topic of this review. Key Words: Bee venom, apitoxin, apitherapy, bee venom acupuncture, melittin. © CUPMAP. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Apitherapy is a complementary therapy that utilizes products of Apis mellifera L., also known as the honey bee, such as honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly, beeswax, and bee venom (BV) to prevent or treat some disorders. Since the time of Ancient Egypt and the Romans, bee-based products have been utilized to cure ailments, maintain well- being and prevent diseases (Cherbuliez, 2013). Although all of the aforementioned bee components are employed in apitherapy, BV is the product that seems most widely used today to treat various diseases. BV, also known as apitoxin, is a light-colored, odorless, acidic, and poisonous animal secretion with a pungent and bitter taste, which is stored in the venom sacs of female worker bees and aids in their defense against the predators. BV contains a wide range of active compounds such as enzymes, peptides, non-peptide components, and physiologically active amines, where it consists of 88% water and just 0.1 µg of dry venom. Dry venom made up complex peptides (particularly melittin, apamin, adolapin, mast cell degranulating peptide, minimine, secarpine, melittin F, cardiopep etc.), biologically active amines (histamine, epinephrine, dopamine, noradrenaline etc.), enzymes (phospholipase A2, hyaluronidase,