Abstract

Fresh Venezuelan pot-pollen from Apure, Amazonas, Bolivar, and Merida produced by eight meliponine species of Frieseomelitta, Melipona, and Tetragonisca was characterized. The antibacterial activity of pot-pollen ethanolic extracts was measured in Gram positive (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram negative bacteria (Enterobacter cloacae, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa), using agar well diffusion and minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) methods. In both methods, all pot-pollen ethanolic extracts were active against at least four of the bacterial strains tested, showing an antibacterial activity related to stingless bee species. Melipona favosa, Melipona lateralis kangarumensis, Melipona paraensis, and Tetragonisca angustula pot-pollen ethanolic extracts had the widest inhibition halos and the lowest MIC values (between 2.5% and 5.0%), indicating the highest antibacterial activities. Differences in antibacterial activities of pot-pollen produced by the eight species of stingless bees were possibly due to difference in botanical and geographical origin. Escherichia coli was the bacterium more resistant to pot-pollen extracts – ten samples of Melipona eburnea, Melipona paraensis, and Tetragonisca angustula. The antibacterial activity of ethanolic extracts of pot-pollen produced by eight stingless bee species of several regions of Venezuela increases the added value of these products for nutritional and functional uses.

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