New Insights into Tropical Propolis: Propolis from Pitcairn Island
Öz
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Propolis (bee
glue) has a long history of being used in traditional medicine and nowadays
it is extensively used in food diet to improve health and prevent diseases
such as inflammation, heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer. Because of
its broad spectrum of biological activities there is an undying interest in
the composition of propolis, which depends on the vegetation of the area from
which propolis was collected. There are numerous reports in the literature on
the isolation and structural elucidation of biologically active
phytochemicals from propolis collected in Europe, South America, Asia and the
Pacific region. However there is no data about chemical composition and
biological activity of propolis from Pitcairn Islands1. The chemical profiles
of Pitcairn propolis extracts were obtained by GC-MS analysis after
silylation. The major constituents were terpenoids (mainly diterpenes and
less triterpenes). Phenolic components (cardanols, alk(en)ylresorcinols and
anacardic acids) are present in significantly lower amounts, as flavonoids
and the usually present phenolic acids are completely absent. After detailed
chemical investigation of propolis’ dichloromethane extract, four new
cycloartane triterpenes with good antimicrobial activity, along with 18 known
compounds, were isolated. The biological activity of this extract was also
examined and the results showed that it inhibits human breast cancer
MDA-MB-231 cells proliferation and induces changes of malignant cells’
morphology, which hint to apoptotic events. Apart from this the studied
propolis extract possesses strong antimicrobial activity against some of the
most common pathogens causing infections in humans: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia
coli, and Candida albicans.
Thus, the present research provides additional data for the tropical propolis
constituents, revealing the distinct character of Pitcairn propolis. Furthermore,
these findings once again certify the potential role of propolis as a natural
chemopreventive agent and a valuable bioactive mixture for a combination
therapy approach. Acknowledgements: The Pitcairn Island Producers’
Co-operative (PIPCO) for providing the sample. |
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Anahtar Kelimeler
Kaynakça
- 1. Georgieva K, Trusheva B, Uzunova V, Stoyanova T, Valcheva V, Popova M, Tzoneva R, Bankova V (2018) New cycloartane triterpenes from bioactive extract of propolis from Pitcairn Island. Fitoterapia 128: 233–241.