title: Correlation of the immunostimulatory activities of honeys with their contents of identified bioactives.
abstract: Honeys with unique compositions and properties are worth studying for their health-promoting effects. In order to correlate bioactive content with immunostimulatory activity we compared the abilities of seventy eight New Zealand and non-New Zealand honeys to stimulate blood monocytes to release tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and examined the compositions of selected honeys that had widely varying activities. All the honeys, except for a Malaysian "Amber honey" stimulated the release of TNF-α from monocytes. However, the honeys differed greatly in their immunostimulatory activity, even within the same honey type. They differed in their contents of immunostimulatory components, including apalbumins, arabinogalactan proteins, and apisimin, whose levels did not correlate exactly with immunostimulatory activities. We suggest that the immunostimulatory properties of honey may be influenced by other factors, including unidentified immunostimulatory bioactives and immunosuppressive components; the bioavailability of some bioactives may depend on unidentified factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine & Pathology, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. Electronic address: swapna.nz@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Swapna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gannabathula
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine & Pathology, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. Electronic address: gw.krissansen@auckland.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Geoffrey W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Krissansen
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine & Pathology, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. Electronic address: liana654@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Liana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bisson-Rowe
authors.affiliation: Food Science Programme, School of Chemical Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. Electronic address: m.skinner@auckland.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Margot
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Skinner
authors.affiliation: Comvita New Zealand Ltd, Te Puke, New Zealand. Electronic address: gsteinhorn@unitec.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Gregor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Steinhorn
authors.affiliation: Comvita New Zealand Ltd, Te Puke, New Zealand. Electronic address: ralf@whioinnovations.co.nz.
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schlothauer
mesh_terms: D006722:Honey; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D009000:Monocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
keywords: Monocytes; New Zealand honeys; Non-New Zealand honeys; TNF-α