Propolis is a gelatinous solid substance made by bees from the resin collected from the buds and trunks of plants and mixed with the secretions of their maxillary glands and beeswax. Propolis has been widely used in medicine, chemical industry, food and other fields.
(1) The source of propolis
Many scholars in modern times believe that conifers or broad leaves near the bee farms are the source of propolis for the secreted resin.
When worker bees collect resin, they first use their upper jaw to bite down a bit of resin, and then the hind forefoot and midfoot are transferred to the pollen basket of the hind foot. Resin has strong viscosity, so it is more difficult to collect resin than to collect pollen. When the worker bees carried the resin back to the nest, other worker bees helped to unload the resin from the pollen basket little by little. After that, the mandibular glands of the worker bees secreted a liquid that can soften the beeswax and fluidize the resin. This liquid can make the beeswax change its properties. And properties to facilitate the formation of propolis after the fusion of beeswax and resin.
Propolis is a natural protective substance in the bee colony. It plays a role in inhibiting disease, filling gaps, antiseptic, stabilizing the spleen and cleaning the nest in the bee colony.
(2) The physical and chemical properties of propolis
Propolis is a gel-like solid at room temperature. It is yellowish-brown with bluish green when it is incompetent, and a few are nearly black. The broken surface is sand-like, and the cut surface is large and stone-like. The smell is fragrant, giving off a frankincense-like scent when burned. The taste is slightly bitter and slightly spicy. It is viscous and plastic, chewing sticky teeth, it can be softened by hand kneading, it is brittle at 15℃, easy to break; when it is soft at 36℃, it becomes a viscous liquid at 65℃, and beeswax can be separated. The specific gravity varies with the source of propolis, generally between 1.2112 and 1.136, usually around 1.172.
Propolis is insoluble in water, slightly soluble in turpentine, partly soluble in water, slightly soluble in turpentine, partly soluble in ethanol, and extremely soluble in ether and chloroform. Dissolved in 95% ethanol, it is a transparent maroon color with granular precipitation.
(3) The composition of propolis
According to the research of Marcucci, Brazil, the propolis extract contains more than two hundred substances, including flavonoids. It has been analyzed for 34 kinds, 8 kinds of alcohols, 6 kinds of aldehydes, 6 kinds of ketones, 21 kinds of fatty acids and esters. 27 kinds of amino acids, 17 kinds of aromatic acids, 37 kinds of aromatic esters, 10 kinds of anthocyanins, 15 kinds of pinenes, 4 kinds of steroids, 4 kinds of polysaccharide polymers, 5 kinds of vitamins and 20 kinds of minerals. Among them, the content of flavonoids is the highest, which is also the essence of propolis, accounting for about 30-40% of the extract. The types include flavones, flavonols, flavonones and flavonols. (Flavanonols), is the main ingredient with the most pharmacological and anti-biological activity in propolis.
(4) The quality standard of propolis
High-quality propolis should have the unique shape, color, fragrance, viscosity, specific gravity and purity of propolis. There should be no bee body limbs, sawdust, hemp and other debris when looking at it. Pure propolis dissolved in 95%&127; ethanol should be a transparent maroon solution, only particles can be found to precipitate, and there should be no other impurities.
Wax and impurities are inactive parts of propolis, so the higher the content, the worse the quality. China currently grades propolis based on the percentage of ethanol extract of propolis. Propolis ethanol extract content> 75% is special grade; 70%～74.9%&127; is grade one; 60%～69.9% is grade two; 50%～59.9% is grade three; <50% is grade one.
(5) The biological effects of propolis
1.Broad-spectrum antibacterial effect: In the hives or tree dens where honeybees live, suitable air temperature and temperature did not cause microorganisms to grow and multiply. Why? Studies have confirmed that propolis plays an important role. &127; Propolis can inhibit the growth of a variety of bacteria and certain viruses, and has a broad-spectrum antibiotic effect.
Propolis ethanol extract at a concentration of 100 μg/ml has inhibitory effects on 25 of 39 kinds of bacteria and 20 of 39 kinds of plant fungi, among which gram-positive bacteria and acid-fast bacteria are the most sensitive. 1%～10%&127; Propolis alcohol or ether extracts against common human fungi yellow, ringworm, tinea flocculus, rubrum rubrum, rust-colored microspore fungus, gypsum-like microspore fungus, and woolly microspore fungus , Trichophyton cerebris, Trichophyton gypsum, Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton violaceum, etc. have inhibitory effects. It has good killing effect on cucumber mosaic virus, tobacco spot virus, tobacco necrosis virus and influenza A virus. It can inhibit the reproduction of herpes virus and significantly reduce the infection of vaccinia virus. It has a killing effect on Trichomonas vaginalis. It has a neutralizing effect on the exotoxin of Bacillus diphtheriae, Bacillus tetanus and Bacillus edema. At the same time, when combined with certain antibiotics, it can increase the antibacterial activity and prolong its effect.
2.Promote the body’s immune function: injecting propolis or antigens into mice, rats, guinea pigs, house mice, pigs and calves can promote the body’s immune process. The addition of propolis to the bulls can stimulate the immune function, stimulate the synthesis of H-lectin and the proliferative effect of O-lectin, increase the production of antibodies and increase the viability of macrophages.
3.Tissue regeneration promoters: animal experiments show that the treatment of experimental deep burns with propolis has a shorter healing time and better curative effect than ordinary drugs. Propolis can accelerate the regeneration process of damaged cartilage and bone. It can stimulate the regeneration of dental pulp damage, promote the recovery of circulatory disorders, and stimulate the formation of thick fiber bridges in the dental pulp.
4.Local anesthesia: Experiments have proved that the anesthetic effect on rabbit cornea can be sustained for 1 hour when diluted with 4% propolis ethanol solution and water to a concentration of 0.25% & 127; Because of synergy. The blend of pinocin, pinocin and caffeic acid ester in propolis has strong local anesthetic effect.
(6) The pharmacological effects of propolis
Propolis is a multifunctional substance with properties such as antibiotics, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-viral, and anti-tumor properties. From the perspective of its intrinsic function, propolis has the effect of regulating immunity and eliminating free radicals.
1. Anti-inflammatory effect: In the body, propolis extract has a strong anti-inflammatory effect, which is related to inhibiting the release of inflammatory mediators (prostaglandin, leukotrienes and histamine). Feeding propolis can inhibit the lipoxygenase pathway of arachidonic acid metabolism during inflammation. Among the ingredients of propolis, caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) has the strongest effect, and CAPE also has antioxidant properties. Propolis has many properties, similar to “non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs”, NSAIDs. Cuban red propolis has anti-inflammatory, anti-psoriatic and pain-relieving effects on mice.
2. Antibacterial activity: Propolis extract has obvious inhibitory effect on 75 kinds of bacteria, 69 of which are Staphylococcus and Streptococcus which are harmful to human body. Whether in vivo or in vitro experiments, propolis has an anti-oral streptococcus effect, while honey has an antibacterial effect only at high concentrations, but at low concentrations it promotes the growth of bacteria. Propolis extract can inhibit the growth of Streptococcus mutans and inhibit the activity of glucosyltrans ferase; it can inhibit the formation of dental caries in mice. The combined use of propolis extract and antibiotics also has a synergistic effect. Many Staphylococcus strains that are already resistant to antibiotics can use this kind of synergy to achieve antibacterial effects.
Propolis has a bactericidal effect and can fight against several strains isolated from upper respiratory tract infections. Propolis extract especially has strong antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria. Although its antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacteria is weak, propolis can activate the immune system when entering the body, so it also has an indirect antibacterial effect.
3.Antiviral activity: Propolis has been found to have inhibitory activity against many DNA and RNA viruses. Harish et al. found that propolis can inhibit the replication of HIV (HIV-1) and has immunomodulatory effects. Dumitrescu et al. proved that the water-soluble extract of propolis has the ability to resist herpes virus. This is related to the activity of lectins and antioxidant activity. The main flavonoids in propolis have the function of resisting HSV-1 in vitro. Among them, flavonols have stronger activity than flavones. The anti-HSV-1 ability of the whole propolis is better than that of individual ingredients.
isopentyl ferulate in propolis has the ability to significantly inhibit influenza virus A/Hong Kong (H3N2) in vitro. Kandefer et al. used the vesicular stomatitis virus as the research material and found that the activity of propolis to inhibit the virus is not only related to the place of production, but also related to the extraction method.
4. Antifungal activity: Propolis extract has an inhibitory effect on 17 dermatological molds; the combination of propolis extract and antifungal drugs has the most synergistic bactericidal effect.
5. Anti-cancer effect: artepillin C (3,5-diprenyl-4-hydroxycinnamic acid) extracted from Brazilian propolis is toxic to tumor cells and can inhibit their growth. In addition, it can also increase the number of helper T cells (CD4) and increase the ratio of CD4/CD8. Such as transplanting human tumor cells into nude mice, artepillin C has a significant cytotoxic effect on carcinoma and malignent melanoma. When 500μg is injected into the tumor three times a week each time, apoptosis, abortive mitosis, and massive necrosis will be seen histologically. These findings show that artepillin C can activate the immune system and has direct anti-cancer activity. The cytotoxicity of Artepillin C is partly related to apoptosis-like DNA framentation, which is better than 5-fluorouracil.
The tumor suppressing ability of propolis (also including anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-inflammatory ability) may be related to the biological activity of caffeic acid (cinnamic acid) esters. Rao et al. synthesized three caffeic acid esters, called methyl caffeate (MC), phenylethyl caffeate (PEC) and phenylethyl dimethylcaffeate (PEDMC), and tested them against 3,2-dimethyl-4-aminobiphenyl (DMAB, a colon and mammary). Carcinogen) can induce mutations in Salmonella typhimurin strains TA 98 and TA 100, and test the effects of these reagents on human colon adenocarcinoma, HT-29 cells, ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity, and protein tyrosine kinase (PTK). The results showed that >150 μM MC, 30 μM PEC and 20 μM PEDMC significantly inhibited the growth of HT-29 colon adenocarcinoma cells and the synthesis of DNA, RNA and protein. The activities of ODC and PTK in HT-29 cells were also inhibited by different concentrations of MC, PEC and PEDMC. The conclusion is that the caffeic acid ester in propolis has chemopreventive properties. Rao et al. also found that caffeic acid esters not only have anti-tumor activity against human colon cancer, but also have an effect in resisting precancerous mutations in mouse colon caused by azoxymethane.
At present, the components of propolis that inhibit cancer cells have been identified, mainly caffeic acid derivatives. In addition to the above-mentioned MC, PEC, and PEDMC, in fact, in 1988, Grunberger et al. found that caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) is Cells have a selective toxic effect. They used cells that were transformed by the virus as materials and found that CAPE at a concentration of 2 mg/ml can effectively inhibit the growth of these abnormal cells. However, for normal mouse cells, even if the CAPE When the concentration is increased by 5 times (10 mg/ml), it is still not toxic.
Su et al. further confirmed that CAPE can inhibit the expression of oncogenes. Chiao et al. thoroughly explored the effects of CAPE on cells undergoing virus-induced transformation. They found that CAPE can induce these abnormal cells to undergo apoptosis, but not for normal cells. For abnormal cells that undergo transformation induced by carcinogens, CAPE can also cause them to undergo apoptosis.
Recently, Mitamura et al. isolated a pteridine substance-PMS-1 from Brazilian propolis, which also has the effect of inhibiting skin tumors in mice.
(7) Clinical application of propolis
1.Application in surgery: Because propolis has strong antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects, local pain relief, can promote epithelial hyperplasia and granulation growth, reduce the degree of scar formation, improve blood and lymph circulation, so it is used in the treatment of chronic leg ulcers, anal fissures and other surgical diseases There are more applications and better results.
2.Application on the skin: Propolis preparations can be used to treat corns, shingles, flat warts, vulgaris, folliculitis, hidradenitis, sunburn, ray dermatitis, skin cracks, eczema, pruritus, neurodermatitis, silver Skin diseases such as scoria, acne vulgaris, and alopecia areata. Some hospitals use propolis preparations to treat purulent skin diseases, and the cure rate is 75%. &127; Treatment of 1000 cases of various dermatitis patients with propolis preparations, of which the curative effect of invasive alopecia is 100%, and the curative effect rate of alopecia areata is 82%; &127; the treatment of foot corns with propolis has a cure rate of 90%.
3. Application in ear, nose, and throat: Propolis preparation (ointment or drops) is used to treat otitis media or rhinitis, usually 3 to 4 times, it can be cured in 10 to 15 days, and individual can be cured in 3 to 4 days. At home and abroad, the use of propolis extract to treat acute and chronic rhinitis, atrophic rhinitis, sinusitis, pharyngitis, tonsillitis, upper respiratory tract inflammation, otitis externa, otitis media, hearing impairment, etc. has a good effect.
4. Application in stomatology: As early as the 1950s, propolis ointment was successfully used in foreign countries to treat recurrent aphtha, oral erosion, ulcers and other oral diseases.
5. Application in internal medicine: Stomach and duodenal ulcers are relatively stubborn chronic diseases. Clinical practice has proved that with propolis tincture in the treatment of gastric and duodenal ulcers, more than 90% of patients have a significant improvement in 3 to 5 days, &127; gastric acidity tends to be normal, and gastric secretion function returns to normal. Propolis has a significant effect on lowering blood lipids in the treatment of hyperlipidemia, and it has also received good results in the treatment of coronary heart disease.
