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ANNO 1 Numero 1
Vassya Bankova, Milena Popova [1]
Standardization and quality control of propolis: a brief review

[1] Institute of organic Chemistry with Centre of Phytochemistry, Sofia, Bulgaria

Propolis has been known for its healing properties for centuries and today many propolis products are available commercially. However, propolis collected from different geographic regions of the world will have different composition and may vary in activity. The lack of commonly accepted standardization and quality control procedures is an obstacle to the wide use of propolis in the mainstream medicinal practice. It is therefore important to establish standards for the composition of propolis, where the presence and amount of important constituents can be determined. Knowledge of propolis plant sources in specific regions could help in solving this problem. Many studies have shown that in the temperate zone bees almost exclusively collect propolis from the bud exudates of poplar trees (Populus spp.). The main propolis constituents in these regions are the typical "poplar" phenolics: flavonoids, phenolic acids and their esters, known to be responsible for the essential pharmacological activities of bee glue. The identification of poplar propolis can be performed by chromatographic identification of several important compounds - taxonomic markers. After that, the amount of the main groups of biologically active compounds has to be measured and spectrophotometric methods are especially suitable, rapid and easy to perform (the AlCl3 method for total flavones and flavonols, the 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine method for total flavanones and dihydroflavonols, and the Folin Ciocalteu method for total phenolics). It is also important to determine the antibacterial activity of the samples (MIC against S. aureus) and the absence of contaminants such as acaricides and heavy metals.

Contact: bankova@orgchm.bas.bg