Determining the Content of Sulfohydryl Groups in Bee Brood Proteins

Abstract

Unfortunately, bee brood – a nontraditional product of beekeeping – is still not used in domestic medicine because of insufficiently studied chemical composition and pharmacological activity. Comprising a mixture of bee queen, worker, and drone larvae, prepupas, and pupas, bee brood contains a complex of biologically active substances including amino acids, proteins, lipids, and mineral compounds [1 – 3]. Of special significance among these components are proteins offering a valuable source of both essential and nonessential amino acids. As is known, sulfohydryl groups enter into the composition of essential amino acids cysteine and cystine. It was established that the activity of bee brood enzymes involved in the synthesis of proteins and nucleic acids and in the synthesis and decomposition of ATP is also determined primarily by the presence of sulfohydryl groups in the active centers of enzyme molecules. In this context, we have developed a spectrophotometric technique and studied the content of sulfohydryl groups in the proteins of bee brood from several bee species. These species represented several types (gray Caucasus mountain, Italian, middle-Russian, and Carpathian) collected in Stavropol, Krasnodar, Rostov, and Irkutsk regions. We have also studied the reference samples of bee milk.