Bioactivity of Propolis from Santiago del Estero, Argentina, related to their chemical composition.

CHAILLOU, L.L.; NAZARENO, M.A.

LEBENSMITTEL-WISSENSCHAFT UND-TECHNOLOGIE-FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Elsevier

Lugar: London, UK; Año: 2009

0023-6438

Abstract Propolis, an extremely complex resinous material gathered by honeybees from various plant sources, exhibits valuable pharmacological and biological properties attributed to the presence of polyphenols. This study examined the antibacterial, antiradical and antioxidant activities of propolis from different provenances and correlated the values with total levels of polyphenolic compounds and flavonoids. Besides, individual contents of those polyphenols with antioxidant ability were determined and correlated with their bioactivity. Analyzed samples presented a noticeable variability in their antioxidant and antiradical activities, although, linear relationships between them and also between polyphenol and flavonoid levels were found. Propolis protective ability against lipid oxidation is related to its high contents of certain polyphenols, mainly quercetin and gallic acid. Antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus of the samples presented low variability. This bioactivity is assigned to pinocembrin, present in high concentrations in all the samples studied. Good correlation was found between such activity and pinocembrin content. Linear relationships between antibacterial activity and polyphenol and flavonoid levels were also found.