Chemical composition, total phenol contents, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of propolis produced by honeybee Apismelliferajemenitica from FicuspalmataForssk in Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Honeybee hives were setup in Feeg village of Al-Baha province- Saudi Arabia, where Ficus palmata plants are dominant in the Juniperus procera forest. Propolis samples were collected from these hives for over a year. The propolis samples were extracted using three different solvents including dichloromethane (DCM), mixture of dichloromethane and methanol (DCM:MeOH, v:v, 2:1) and methanol (MeOH). The chemical compositions of the different propolis extracts were determine by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The total phenol content (TPC) in each extract was quantified using the Folin-Ciocalteu method. The free radical-scavenge activities (FRSA) of the various propolis extracts were measured by the method of 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). The chemical analysis showed that the propolis extracts of the different solvents varied in composition and contained mainly diterepenoids, triterpenoids, fatty acids, n-alkane, and n-alkene. The TPC ranged from 30.5±7.8 for DCM to 168.5±23.3 mg GA/g for DCM:MeOH propolis extracts. The FRSA ranged from 6.56 % for the DCM to 19.22 % for the DCM:MeOH extracts of July 2014. The MeOH extracts of the propolis showed higher toxicity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus than the DCM:MeOH propolis extracts. The latter extracts showed the highest toxicities against Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger.