Elsevier

Pharmacological Research

Volume 51, Issue 2, February 2005, Pages 147-152
Pharmacological Research

Effects of propolis on blood glucose, blood lipid and free radicals in rats with diabetes mellitus

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2004.06.011Get rights and content

Abstract

The effects of ethanol (EEP) and water (WSD) extracts of propolis collected from north China on blood glucose, blood lipid and free radicals in rats with diabetes mellitus were studied. The results show that EEP and WSD led to decreased levels of blood glucose (FBG), fructosamine (FRU), malonaldehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO), nitric oxide synthetase (NOS), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C) in serum of fasting rats; and to increased serum levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). This suggests that propolis can control blood glucose and modulate the metabolism of glucose and blood lipid, leading to decreased outputs of lipid peroxidation and scavenge the free radicals in rats with diabetes mellitus.

Introduction

Propolis is a sticky resinous material that honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) collect from various plants, and mix with wax and other secretions. The chemical constituents of propolis are mainly flavonoids, aromatic acids and esters, aldehydes and ketones, fatty acids and esters, terpenes, steroids, amino acids polysaccharides, hydrocarbon, alcohol, hydroxybenzene and other compounds [1], [2]. Propolis has been used as a folk medicine in many countries since ancient times because of its peculiar biological properties in the treatment of cancer, and as an antioxidant, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, and antibiotic material [3], [4], [5]. Diabetes mellitus is a common incretion disease caused by the absolute or relative absence of insulin. Diabetes mellitus remains an acute disease and danger to human health [6], [7].

Recent articles on propolis credit it with curing diabetes mellitus [8], but detailed studies are few and no uniform criteria for the extraction and preparation of propolis solutions exist nor do standard methods for the preparation of propolis in the treatment of diabetes mellitus in rats. The effects of propolis on blood glucose, blood lipid and free radicals in rats with diabetes mellitus were studied and are reported here.

Section snippets

Drugs and reagents

Propolis was obtained from colonies of honeybees, A. mellifera L., in north China in 2001 and the main plant origin was poplar (Populus sp.). Water-soluble derivatives (WSD) of pulverized propolis were obtained by extraction of a 30 g sample at 80 °C for 12 h. Similar samples of propolis were also extracted in 80% ethanol. The main pharmacological constituents of the crude extracts are flavonoids (fagoyprol, quercetin, kaempferol, isohammetin). Alloxan was obtained from the Sigma Chemical Company.

The effects of propolis on blood glucose in rats with diabetes mellitus

The experiment lasted 8 weeks: the first week involved the induction of diabetes mellitus and the remaining 7 weeks the period of drug administration. The effects of propolis solutions on blood glucose in rats with diabetes mellitus are given in Table 1. The results show that blood glucose concentration in the diabetes mellitus model group increased with time (F1,94 = 29.77, P < 0.0001), while the small changes in the rats with diabetes mellitus treated with propolis were not significant (WSD1:

The effects of propolis on blood glucose

The United Kingdom Prospective Diabetic Study (UKPDS) recognized that type-2 diabetes mellitus is an acute, progressive disease and during their 15-year study found that the level of glycosylated haematoglobin protein and fasting blood glucose level persistently increased. This demonstrated that the β cell system of the pancreas becomes impaired with time. This study also confirmed that in the patients with type-2 diabetic mellitus, it was very important to improve blood glucose levels,

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