Abstract
Food-borne pathogens is a group of micro-organisms that
cause food-borne illness, thus the research for finding effective
drugs against this infection is necessary. The purpose of this study
determines antibacterial, antioxidant activity antifungal of bee
glue ethanol and aqueous extracts. Antibacterial and antifungal
activities of extracts were evaluated against food-born
(Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Vibrio
cholerae and Candida albicans) purchased from Boali hospital on
by the well diffusion method. Broth serial dilution method was
doing to find the Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and the
agar dilution method to find the Minimal Bacterial Concentration
(MBC) of extracts. The antioxidant activity of the extracts assay-
ing by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method. Ethanol
extract of bee glue was found the most effective against S. aureus
strains (inhibition zone=27±0.87 mm) than E. coli strains (inhibi-
tion zone=5.5±0.37mm). Aqueous extract of propolis was found
the most effective against S. aureus strains (inhibition
zone=14.5±0.75 mm) than E. coli strains (inhibition
zone=3.5±0.5mm) and C. albicans (inhibition zone=10±0.5 mm).
The MIC and MBC values of the extracts ethanol and aqueous
most effective against B. cereus strains were 0.3125, 0.625,
0.3125 and 1.25 mg/mL than E. coli strains 0.625, 1. 25, 2.5 and
50 mg/mL. and also for C. albicans was 0.625, 1.25, 1.25 and 2.5
mg/mL. IC50 ethanol and aqueous extracts of propolis were
8±0.25 and 45±1.75, respectively. This study was to assess the
Antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant activities activities of
bee glue extracts in in vitro.
Introduction
The honey bees can be considered as the collect bee glue
from plant resin through biting off scraps. Bee glue is hard and
fragile at room temperature and soft, malleable and sticky when
heated. It can be extracted by the honey bees from the resin of
plants in the inside of bee nest and used to repair honeycombs,
and keep up disinfection of the beehive, prevent decay organ-
isms inside the bee nest that dies.
1,2
Furthermore, the variation in
the composition of bee glue can be associated with the plant
species, regional geography, and seasons, which were visited by
the honey bees as well as the metabolized and secreted sub-
stances by them and also further added components during its
production.
3
Some biological properties such as antioxidant, antifungal,
and antimicrobial activity, mainly due to of phenolic com-
pounds, especially flavonoids, were demonstrated previously.
4-6
Moreover, recently, the utilization of natural preservative ingre-
dients such as natural waxes, plant extracts and essential oils in
order to inhibition of growth of foodborne pathogens as well as
spoiling molds in food products is highly regarded.
7-8
Due to
favorable properties, bee glue can be utilized in variety of appli-
cations, such as anti-wrinkle, anti-acne, anti-inflammatory, anti-
viral, anti-diabetic and leishmanicidal agents.
9-17
In addition
approaching of extracted bioactive compounds from medicinal
plants sources as antimicrobial and antioxidants agents attracted
notable attention.
18,19
In this context, the bee glue extracts can be
incorporated in food processing, nutraceuticals or cosmetic anti-
aging formulations.
Hence, the goal of this study was undertaken to assess the
antioxidant and/or antimicrobial activities of bee glue extracts an
in vitro system.
Correspondence: Amir Sasan Mozaffari Nejad, Hamadan University of
Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
E-mail: as.mozafarinejad@umsha.ac.ir
Key words: Bee glue, antioxidant activity, antimicrobial activity, extract.
Contributions: the authors contributed equally.
Conflict of interest: the authors declare no potential conflict of interest.
Acknowledgements: the authors would like to acknowledge the finan-
cial support of the Food Safety and Chemical Research Center, Tehran
University of Medical Science, Iran.
Received for publication: 7 December 2016.
Revision received: 25 April 2017.
Accepted for publication: 5 May 2017.
©Copyright N. Shariatifar et al., 2017
Licensee PAGEPress, Italy
Journal of Biological Research 2017; 90:6452
doi:10.4081/jbr.2017.6452
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution Noncommercial License (by-nc 4.0) which permits any non-
commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provid-
ed the original author(s) and source are credited.
[Journal of Biological Research 2017; 90:6452] [page 77]
Journal of Biological Research 2017; volume 90:6452
Antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant activities of bee glue ethanol
and aqueous extracts
Nabi Shariatifar,
1
Akram Janghorban,
2
Rezvan Rahimnia,
3
Amir Sasan Mozaffari Nejad
4
1
Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran;
2
Department of Food Industry, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran;
3
Department of
Environmental Education, School of Humanities, Payame Noor University, Tehran;
4
Nutrition Health Research
Center, Student Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
Non-commercial use only