Chemical characterization and bio-guided isolation of compounds with anti-inflammatory and/or anti-HIV effect of a Brazilian propolis.

• Grant number: 13/07834-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Effective date (Start): July 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): June 30, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Applied Botany
• Principal Investigator: Antonio Salatino
• Grantee: Caroline Cristina Fernandes da Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Propolis is a complex mixture of compounds with resinous aspect, produced by honeybees Apis mellifera. The chemical composition of propolis is highly variable, depending on the local flora, among others factors. Despite de wide chemical variation and diversity of the already known propolis types, practically all of them have revealed a wide spectrum of biological activity, including antibacterial, antifungal, antiprotozoan and cytotoxic, among many other properties. The Brazilian propolis mostly commercialized both in the domestic and international markets is the green propolis (alecrim propolis), which is produced with resins from Baccharis dracunculifolia (alecrim-do-campo plant). Most of the research done so far about chemistry and biological properties of Brazilian propolis is focused on studies of hydro-alcoholic extracts of green propolis. However, works that have dealt with less polar extracts from this or other types of propolis have uncovered new compounds. The present project intends: 1) to analyze the chemical composition; 2) to determine the anti-HIV and anti-inflammatory activities; 3) to isolate active constituents of a sample of propolis from the state of Paraná (south Brazil), a locality where alecrim plants do not predominate as in other Brazilian southeastern or south regions, and also where Populus sp., a common botanical source of propolis from southern Brazil, is not prevalent. Because this propolis sample has an unknown plant source and because it has not yet been chemically analyzed, extracts obtained by solvents with increasing polarity (hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and methanol) will be analyzed by GC-MS and HPLC-MS-MS. An ethyl acetate extract will be fractionated by vacuum-liquid chromatography. The fractions obtained will be analyzed for determination of the anti-HIV and anti-inflammatory activities, the former by the method of the inhibition of the reverse transcriptase, and the latter by the method of the inhibition of the expression of the IL-1² and IL-6 proinflammatory cytokines and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) mRNA. The active eluates will be further fractionated, aiming at isolating active constituents, possibly by semi-preparative HPLC. Both assays of biological activity have not yet been carried out with samples of Brazilian propolis. The bio-guided isolation will enable the attainment and identification of active constituents; the extract fractionation will enable the detection of constituents present at low concentration and thus permitting a more comprehensive chemical characterization of the sample.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

GIUSEPPINA NEGRI; CAROLINE CRISTINA FERNANDES SILVA; GUILHERME RABELO COELHO; ROBERTO MANOEL DO NASCIMENTO; RONALDO ZUCATELLI MENDONÇA. Cardanols detectados nos extratos apolares da própolis de Scaptotrigona aff. postica (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini). Brazilian Journal of Food Technology, v. 22, 2019-10-17. (13/07834-4)