Análise da atividade biológica de própolis de uruçu (Melipona scutellaris) do Estado da Bahia

Abstract

The stingless bees are so called because they presented this defense tool atrophied. They belong to the order Hymenoptera, sub-family Meliponinae and are grouped into three distinct tribes: Meliponini, Trigonini and Lestrimelitini. They are distributed in tropical and subtropical areas in Central and South America, Malaysia, Indonesia, Africa and Australia. They have size, shape and color variation and a level of social organization comparable to that of bee Apis mellifera. For the construction of the nests some of these bess use the geopropolis (mixture of plant resins, wax and soil). The Brazilian species are divided into Melipona and Trigona and one of the most popular specie is Uruçu (Melipona scutellaris). The purpose of this study was to nalyse some physical, chemical and biological properties of Uruçu (Melipona scutellaris) propolis from the state of Bahia, Brazil.Propolis examined showed dark brown color, flexible and pungent odor. The content of phenolic compounds by the method of Folin-Ciocalteu was 0,105 mg/mg of propolis. The crude extract of propolis has significant antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus in the test of antibiogram by agar diffusion and in the determination of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), with a diameter of 27 mm of inhibition zone and MIC from 3.12 to 1.56 ppm. The most apolar fraction showed higher antimicrobial activity, with a diameter of 33 mm of inhibition zone for the fraction 5 and the MIC obtained was from 1.56 to 0.78 ppm. Was also evaluated the antioxidant activity using the DPPH radical scavenging activity and crude extract showed dose-dependent response, and 89.05% in the concentration of 90 ppm. The less apolar fraction showed the higher antioxidant activity against DPPH, it was 67.36% for the concentration of 90 ppm. We also evaluated the cytotoxic activity of the crude extract on eight cancer cell lines, and it showed toxicity in a dose-dependent manner.