Repeated Skin Irritation Test of Purified Bee Venom from Honeybee(Apis mellifera L.) in Rabbits

Abstract

This study was performed to examine the repeated skin irritation reaction of purified bee venom (Apis mellifera L.) collected using bee venom collector. To confirm whether the purified bee venom causes primary skin irritation when used for the skin medicinal products, skin irritation testing was conducted using rabbit models. The purified bee venom (0.5 mg/kg/day) was uniformly applied on each gauze patch cut into a size of approximately 2.5 cm×2.5 cm. Then, each patch was pasted to the skin, respectively, and was fixed with an adhesive plaster. The left was controls and the right was purified bee venom for 7 days everyday. Observations were made at 1, 24, 48 and 72 hours after the patch had been removed, and then the irritation reaction was scored according to Formation of erythema and eschar and edema. No irritation reaction was observed in any of the test skins during the observation period. Therefore, the P.I.I, was 0. As a result, no irritation reaction was observed in any of the test skins during the observation period. Therefore, in the primary skin irritation test using rabbits, the purified bee venom was judged to belong to a category “non-irritant”. This study demonstrated that purified bee venom has promising potential external treatment for topical uses that do not induce significant levels of skin reaction.