Ethanolic formulations of propolis

prevent its consumption by people who can not consume alcohol for medical reasons, such as diabetic patients. Several patents have dealt therefore with new methods or solvents besides ethanol to extract propolis (Kasuma and Kenichi, 2001a, Kasuma and Kenichi, 2001b and Namiki et al., 2005). These patents have reported the use of edible vegetable oils, triglycerides selleck inhibitor and fatty acids as extraction solvents for propolis. Data on the biological activity and chemical composition of oil extracts of propolis are, however, scarce. Tosi, Donini, Romagnoli, and Bruni (1996) evaluated the antimicrobial activity of commercial extracts of propolis prepared with different solvents including oils. They reported a wide range of antimicrobial activity for the oil extract and concluded that the solvent employed for the extraction of propolis influences the potency of its antimicrobial activity.

We have compared antiproliferative activity against the HL-60, MDAMB-435 and SF-295 cells lines of oil and ethanolic propolis extracts (Buriol et al., 2009) and found out that oil extracts were active against the tumour cell line tested showing higher anticancer potential against the SF-295 cell line. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the oil and ethanolic extracts of propolis in experimental models. Hematological, biochemical, histopathological and morphological analyses of the tumour MTMR9 and the organs, including liver, spleen AZD2014 supplier and kidney, were performed to evaluate the toxicological aspects of the treatment. The results of this study should

therefore advance the knowledge of the antitumour benefits of edible oil extracts of propolis and provide a better understanding of their application in the prevention/treatment of malignant tumours. Besides biological assays, the oil extract of propolis was also fractioned by chromatography and its fractions analysed using mass spectrometry to evaluate their chemical composition. Propolis samples were collected in 2006 and supplied by Campolin and Schmidt Company from Prudentópolis city (Paraná State, Brazil). Propolis was stored at −18 °C until extraction. Fifty grams of propolis were extracted in a shaker with 500 ml of canola oil or 70% ethanol, during 24 h, at room temperature. After that period, the extractive solutions were filtered. The solvent was removed from the hydro-alcoholic solution yielding EEP70. The oil extract of propolis was partitioned into 80% v/v methanol/water and the aqueous methanolic phase was dried in a rotatory evaporator yielding ODEP. Hundred and eighty milligrams of ODEP in methanol were applied on a glass column (3 × 80 cm) containing Sephadex LH-20. The elution was performed with methanol. A total of 80 fractions of 8 ml each were obtained.