In Vitro Antimicrobial Potential of Portuguese Propolis Extracts from Gerês against Pathogenic Microorganisms

• Published in: Antibiotics (Basel) 2024-07, Vol.13 (7), p.655
• Main Authors: Oliveira, Rafaela Dias, Araújo, Carina, Almeida-Aguiar, Cristina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acids; Amoxicillin; Antibacterial activity; antibiotic resistance; Antibiotics; Antiinfectives and antibacterials; Antimicrobial activity; Antimicrobial agents; Antimicrobial resistance; Bacteria; Clavulanic acid; Coliforms; Drug resistance; Drug resistance in microorganisms; E coli; Erythromycin; Ethanol; Flavonoids; Gram-negative bacteria; Gram-positive bacteria; Health problems; Methicillin; Microorganisms; Minimum inhibitory concentration; Natural products; Natural resources; pathogenic microorganisms; Portugal; Portuguese propolis; Propolis; Public health; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus infections; Vancomycin; Yeasts
• ISSN: 2079-6382; 2079-6382
• DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics13070655

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of humanity's main health problems today. Despite all the breakthroughs and research over the past few years, the number of microbial illnesses that are resistant to the available antibiotics is increasing at an alarming rate. In this article, we estimated the biomedical potential of Portuguese propolis harvested from the Gerês apiary over five years, evaluating the in vitro antimicrobial effect of five hydroalcoholic extracts prepared from five single propolis samples and of a hydroalcoholic extract obtained from the mixture of all samples. The antimicrobial potential was firstly assessed by determining the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of these extracts against a panel of three Gram-positive ( , methicillin-sensitive and methicillin-resistant ) and one Gram-negative bacteria ( as well as two yeasts ( and ). As MIC values against each bacterium were consistent across all the evaluated propolis extracts, we decided to further conduct a disk diffusion assay, which included three commercial antibiotics-erythromycin, vancomycin, and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid-for comparison purposes. In addition to displaying a concentration-dependent antibacterial effect, the hydroalcoholic extracts prepared with 70% ethanol exhibited stronger antimicrobial capacity than vancomycin against (% of increase ranged between 26 and 59%) and methicillin-sensitive (% of increase ranged between 63 and 77%). Moreover, methicillin-resistant (MRSA) showed susceptibility to the activity of the same extracts and resistance to all tested antibiotics. These findings support that propolis from Gerês is a promising natural product with promising antimicrobial activity, representing a very stimulating result considering the actual problem with AMR.