Free Access
Issue
Apidologie
Volume 38, Number 3, May-June 2007
Page(s) 306 - 306
DOI https://doi.org/10.1051/apido:2007013
Published online 14 June 2007
Apidologie 38 (2007) 306-306
DOI: 10.1051/apido:2007013

Chemical characteristics of poplar type propolis of different geographic origin

Milena P. Popovaa, Vassya S. Bankovaa, Stefan Bogdanovb, Iva Tsvetkovac, Christo Naydenskic, Gian Luigi Marcazzand and Anna-Gloria Sabatinid

a  Institute of Organic Chemistry with Centre of Phytochemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
b  Swiss Bee Research Centre, FAM, Liebefeld, 3003 Bern, Switzerland
c  Institute of Microbiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
d  National Institute of Beekeeping, 80 Via di Saliceto, Bologna, Italy

(Received 16 June 2006 - Revised 15 January 2007 - Accepted 22 January 2007 - Published online 14 June 2007)

Abstract - Validated spectrophotometric procedures were used to quantify three main groups of bioactive substances (phenolics, flavones/flavonols, flavanones/dihydroflavonols) in 114 samples of poplar-type propolis from different geographic origins. From the results, we characterized raw poplar propolis in terms of minimum content of its bioactive components (antimicrobial and antioxidant) as follows: 45% resin, 21% total phenolics, 4% total flavones/flavonols; 4% total flavanones/dihydroflavonols, and a maximum Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) against S. aureus of 250 $\mu$g/mL. A significant negative correlation was observed between the amount of total phenolics and MIC. The results indicate that measuring the concentrations of groups of active compounds, rather than individual components, is an appropriate approach in developing quality standards for propolis.


Key words: poplar propolis / chemical characteristics / antibacterial activity / standardization

Corresponding author: Bankova@orgchm.bas.bg

© INRA, DIB-AGIB, EDP Sciences 2007