Bioactive compound profile of propolis product from Beekeeping (Meliponiculture) in Turi Yogyakarta Indonesia

Abstract

Medicinal bio-products have been used all over the world for the treatment and prevention of various ailments, particularly in developing countries where infectious diseases are endemic and modern health facilities and services are inadequate. There is growing evidence in the correlation of the bio-chemical constituents found in medicinal bio-products with their pharmacological activities. One source of natural bioproduct medicine is propolis from the stingless bee. The objective of this research was to analyze the composition of bioactive compunds found in the methanolic extract of raw propolis from the stingless bee farmed in the meliponiculture practice in Turi, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The raw propolis sample was extracted with methanol by using the soxhlet extractor and the obtained crude methanolic extract was then analyzed using the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method. The qualitative analyses of the methanolic crude extract using the GC-MS showed that the profile of the propolis’ chromatogram has different types of high and low molecular weight compounds consisting of 26 bioactive compounds which can be categorized in 3 (three) different groups: terpenoids, phenolic, and steroids. Most of the bioactive compounds are found to be biologically important. Futher research is still needed to further analyze the presence of other various bioactive compounds and to confirm and isolate their individual bio-chemical constituents for treatment of various ailment and the bioprospecting of potential antimicrobial drugs.