title: Trigona laeviceps propolis from Thailand: antimicrobial, antiproliferative and cytotoxic activities.
abstract: Propolis is one of the natural bee products which has long been used as a crude preventative and prophylactic medicine, and has been reported to possess antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative and anticancer properties. Propolis of the stingless bee, Trigona laeviceps, was extracted by water or methanol at 35% (w/v) yielding a crude water or a methanolic extract at 60 and 80 mg/ml, respectively, which is 17.1 and 22.9% (w/w) of the total propolis, respectively. The antimicrobial activity of both crude extracts was assayed on four selected pathogenic microbes by using the agar well diffusion method. The results suggested that both water and methanolic crude extracts have some antimicrobial activities, water extract has greater antimicrobial activity than methanolic extract. The relative order of sensitivity of the four microbes were, however, the same between the two extracts from the most to least sensitive, S. aureus > E. coli >> C. albicans >>> A. niger, with indeed no observed growth inhibition of A. niger at all. Antiproliferative and cytotoxic affects were tested on the colon carcinoma cell line, SW620, using the three parameters: (1) MTT assay; (2) cell morphology; and (3) the fragmentation of genomic DNA. The water extract of propolis showed a higher antiproliferative activity than that of methanolic extract to SW620 cells, additionally both appeared to cause cell death by necrosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
authors.forename: Supawadee
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Umthong
authors.forename: Songchan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Puthong
authors.forename: Chanpen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chanchao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001234:Aspergillus niger / Q000187:drug effects; D001516:Bees / Q000737:chemistry*; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000187:drug effects; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D053938:DNA Fragmentation / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D000432:Methanol / Q000737:chemistry; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D011429:Propolis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects; D013785:Thailand; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D014867:Water; D011429:Propolis; D000432:Methanol