Abstract
Little is known about the effectiveness of bee products on chronic inflammation. In this experimental study, it was aimed to investigate and compare the anti-inflammatory activities of honey, propolis, royal jelly, pollen and bee bread, for the first time in the literature. In the study, 48 Sprague Dawley female albino rats weighing 200 ± 20 g were used and bee products were administered by oral gavage method. Healthy, control, honey, propolis, pollen, royal jelly and bee bread groups were randomized. Chronic inflammation was created by cotton pellet method. For the treatments, 1 g/kg of honey, 300 mg/kg/day of pollen, 100 mg/kg/day of propolis, 500 mg/kg/day of bee bread and 100 mg/kg/day of royal jelly were given for seven days. One week later, cotton pellets were removed, and the pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine levels of the blood samples were measured and compared statistically. It was found that honey, propolis, pollen, bee bread and royal jelly had statistically significant anti-inflammatory activities and significantly reduced pro-inflammatory cytokine levels (p < 0.001). Among the anti-inflammatory cytokines, pollen, bee bread and propolis were found to increase the levels of IL-4, IL-10 and IL-1RA the most. Among the pro-inflammatory cytokines, pollen, bee bread and propolis were the ones that decreased IL-6 and TNF-α levels the most; Pollen, bee bread and honey were found to decrease IL-1β the most (p < 0.001). It was found that all bee products have significant anti-inflammatory activities. The highest anti-inflammatory activity was found with pollen administration, followed by bee bread and propolis.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Prof.Elif Çadırcı and Research Assistant Halil İbrahim Özkan for their valuable support to our study.
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This study was supported by Ataturk University Scientific Research Projects (BAP) unit with the grant number TYL-2020-8459.
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MK and MG participated in the design, interpretation of the study and and review of the manuscript; MK conducted the experiments, supplied critical reagents, wrote the manuscript, and analyzed the data.
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Before the study, local ethics approval was obtained by the Animal Experiments Local Ethics Committee of our University with the decision number of 03.12.2019/233.
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Kosedag, M., Gulaboglu, M. Pollen and bee bread expressed highest anti-inflammatory activities among bee products in chronic inflammation: an experimental study with cotton pellet granuloma in rats. Inflammopharmacol 31, 1967–1975 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-023-01182-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-023-01182-4