Study of preparations of bee pollen extracts, antioxidant and antibacterial activity

Solange Teresinha Carpes,Maria Lúcia Masson,Rosicler Begnini,Severino Matias De Alencar

doi:10.1590/s1413-70542007000600032

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the antioxidant activity, phenolic content and antibacterial activity of pollen extracts obtained with different concentrations of ethanol. Each extraction condition (ethanol solutions from 40 to 90%) had a different effect in the phenolic compounds content. Although, the pollen extract obtained at 60, 70 and 80% of ethanol showed relatively higher levels of phenolic compounds (>10 mg/g) and did not present statistical significant difference between the extraction conditions. The amount of total phenolics ranged from 3.6 to 8.1 and 6.6 to 10.9 mg GAE/g for Alagoas state and Parana state pollen, respectively. The higher value for antioxidant activity index was 83.30% for the pollen from Alagoas state and 81.15 % for Parana state pollen. The highest degree of antioxidant activity was found in the extraction at 60% of ethanol solution for Parana state pollen, which also showed the highest concentration of polyphenol compounds. Staphylococcus aureus was inhibited by the ethanolic extract of Alagoas state pollen in all the concentrations of solvent, except the ethanolic extract of pollen at 90%. The extract at 60% of ethanol solution (Parana sample) inhibited Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella sp.

Highlights

Pollen, as well as other apicultural products, has gained increased attention for its therapeutic properties, as antibacterial (GARCÍA et al, 2001; PROESTOS et al, 2005), antifungicidal (GARCÍA et al, 2001), anti-caryogenic (ALMAS et al, 2001) and immunomodulatory (GEBARA et al, 2002) effects
The amount of total phenolics varied in different conditions of extraction and ranged from 3.6 to 8.1 and 6.6 to 10.9 mg GAE/g of dry material to Alagoas and Parana pollen, respectively (Figures 1 and 2)
Pollen extracted in ethanol at 60, 70 and 80% of concentration showed relatively higher levels of phenolic compounds (>10 mg/g) and did not present significant difference between the extraction conditions

Summary

Introduction

As well as other apicultural products, has gained increased attention for its therapeutic properties, as antibacterial (GARCÍA et al, 2001; PROESTOS et al, 2005), antifungicidal (GARCÍA et al, 2001), anti-caryogenic (ALMAS et al, 2001) and immunomodulatory (GEBARA et al, 2002) effects. Bee gathered pollen is considered a valuable special food with varied enhancing effects in health (BOGDANOV, 2004). All bee-derived products such as honey, propolis and pollen have been applied for centuries in traditional medicine as well as in nutritional supplementation (ISLA et al, 2001). The bioactive properties of apicultural pollen extracts can be increased using a solvent suitable for its extraction, improving the activity of free radicals sequestration (antirust activity) (DI PAOLA-NARANJO et al, 2004).

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Conclusion