Evaluation of biological activities of propolis from Gerês (Portugal)

Abstract

[Excerpt] Propolis is a natural resinous and balsamic material produced by honeybees from branches, flowers, pollen, buds and exudates of trees, mixed with bees’ salivary secretions and used to fill cracks or openings1. There are several compounds that can be found in propolis extracts, including flavonoids and phenolic acids, which are related to different biological activities such as genotoxic and antigenotoxic; antimicrobial; antioxidant and free radical scavenging2,3. The aim of this work relates to the investigation on Portuguese propolis, particularly with regard to its chemical characterization and bioactivities evaluation in order to assess the potential of propolis use/ exploitation in medical applications, cosmeceutics and nutraceutics. [...]