Bee products: An overview of sources, biological activities and advanced approaches used in apitherapy application

Background

Bee therapy (Apitherapy, Api-treatment, Bee treatment) is a type of biotherapy that uses bees and their products as medicinal or preventative measures to control progression of diseases. In many countries today, apitherapy is a section of complementary and integrative medicine. The aim of this review is to explore the different bee products and their therapeutic potentials.

Method

We searched the literature and then explored and evaluated evidence for bee products' composition, therapeutic abilities and novel techniques used to enhance their effectiveness.

Results

Data revealed that there are continuous advances in research and clinical trials of bee therapy. A better understanding of the composition of bee products generated great interest in their use for medical treatments. Bee products either collected or synthesized promote healing through reducing inflammation, enhancing circulation, and inducing a healthy immunological response, Furthermore, researchers have developed innovative approaches such as nanoparticles, scaffold, nanofibers, and others to increase the bioavailability of bee products and overcome problems with the traditional use of these products.

Conclusion

Bee therapy is a simple, accessible, and easy-to-use pharmaceutical that is used in conventional medicine and has the potential to treat a variety of diseases. However, further studies are needed to prove its efficacy, and safety. Lack of practice regulations is still an issue.

The antimicrobial effects of silver nanoparticles obtained through the royal jelly on the yeasts Candida guilliermondii NP-4

The effect of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) obtained in the presence of royal jelly (RJ) on the growth of yeast Candida guilliermondii NP-4, on the total and H+-ATPase activity, as well as lipid peroxidation process and antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase) activity was studied. It has been shown that RJ-mediated Ag NPs have a fungicide and fungistatic effects at the concentrations of 5.4 µg mL-1 and 27 µg mL-1, respectively. Under the influence of RJ-mediated Ag NPs, a decrease in total and H+-ATPase activity in yeast homogenates by ~ 90% and ~ 80% was observed, respectively. In yeast mitochondria total and H+-ATPase activity depression was detected by ~ 80% and ~ 90%, respectively. The amount of malondialdehyde in the Ag NPs exposed yeast homogenate increased ~ 60%, the catalase activity increased ~ 70%, and the SOD activity-~ 30%. The obtained data indicate that the use of RJ-mediated Ag NPs have a diverse range of influence on yeast cells. This approach may be important in the field of biomedical research aimed at evaluating the development of oxidative stress in cells. It may also contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of antimicrobial properties of RJ-mediated Ag NPs and help control the proliferation of pathogenic fungi.

Green Innovation and Synthesis of Honeybee Products-Mediated Nanoparticles: Potential Approaches and Wide Applications

Bee products, abundant in bioactive ingredients, have been utilized in both traditional and contemporary medicine. Their antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory properties make them valuable for food, preservation, and cosmetics applications. Honeybees are a vast reservoir of potentially beneficial products such as honey, bee pollen, bee bread, beeswax, bee venom, and royal jelly. These products are rich in metabolites vital to human health, including proteins, amino acids, peptides, enzymes, sugars, vitamins, polyphenols, flavonoids, and minerals. The advancement of nanotechnology has led to a continuous search for new natural sources that can facilitate the easy, low-cost, and eco-friendly synthesis of nanomaterials. Nanoparticles (NPs) are actively synthesized using honeybee products, which serve dual purposes in preventive and interceptive treatment strategies due to their richness in essential metabolites. This review aims to highlight the potential role of bee products in this line and their applications as catalysts and food preservatives and to point out their anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant underlying impacts. The research used several online databases, namely Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Sci Finder. The overall findings suggest that these bee-derived substances exhibit remarkable properties, making them promising candidates for the economical and eco-friendly production of NPs.

Biological Response Evaluation of Human Fetal Osteoblast Cells and Bacterial Cells on Fractal Silver Dendrites for Bone Tissue Engineering

Prosthetic joint replacement is the most widely used surgical approach to repair large bone defects, although it is often associated with prosthetic joint infection (PJI), caused by biofilm formation. To solve the PJI problem, various approaches have been proposed, including the coating of implantable devices with nanomaterials that exhibit antibacterial activity. Among these, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are the most used for biomedical applications, even though their use has been limited by their cytotoxicity. Therefore, several studies have been performed to evaluate the most appropriate AgNPs concentration, size, and shape to avoid cytotoxic effects. Great attention has been focused on Ag nanodendrites, due to their interesting chemical, optical, and biological properties. In this study, we evaluated the biological response of human fetal osteoblastic cells (hFOB) and P. aeruginosa and S. aureus bacteria on fractal silver dendrite substrates produced by silicon-based technology (Si_Ag). In vitro results indicated that hFOB cells cultured for 72 h on the Si_Ag surface display a good cytocompatibility. Investigations using both Gram-positive (S. aureus) and Gram-negative (P. aeruginosa) bacterial strains incubated on Si_Ag for 24 h show a significant decrease in pathogen viability, more evident for P. aeruginosa than for S. aureus. These findings taken together suggest that fractal silver dendrite could represent an eligible nanomaterial for the coating of implantable medical devices.

Royal Jelly Components Encapsulation in a Controlled Release System—Skin Functionality and Biochemical Activity for Skin Applications

Royal jelly is a yellowish-white substance with a gel texture that is secreted from the hypopharyngeal and mandibular glands of young worker bees. It consists mainly of water (50–56%), proteins (18%), carbohydrates (15%), lipids (3–6%), minerals (1.5%), and vitamins, and has many beneficial properties such as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antioxidant, antidiabetic, immunomodulatory, and anti-aging. Royal jelly has been used since ancient times in traditional medicine, cosmetics and as a functional food due to its high nutritional value. The main bioactive substances are royalactin, and 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA). Other important bioactive molecules with antioxidant and photoprotective skin activity are polyphenols. However, they present difficulties in extraction and in use as they are unstable physicochemically, and a higher temperature causes color change and component degradation. In the present study, a new encapsulation and delivery system consisting of liposomes and cyclodextrins incorporating royal jelly has been developed. The new delivery system aims to the elimination of the stability disadvantages of royal jelly’s sensitive component 10-HDA, but also to the controlled release of its ingredients and, more particularly, 10-HDA, for an enhanced bioactivity in cosmeceutical applications.

Antibacterial activity of royal jelly-mediated green synthesized silver nanoparticles

The application of green synthesis in nanotechnology is growing day by day. It's a safe and eco-friendly alternative to conventional methods. The current research aimed to study raw royal jelly's potential in the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles and their antibacterial activity. Royal jelly served as a reducing and oxidizing agent in the green synthesis technology of colloidal silver nanoparticles. The UV-Vis maximum absorption at ~ 430 nm and fluorescence emission peaks at ~ 487 nm confirmed the presence of Ag NPs. Morphology and structural properties of Ag NPs and the effect of ultrasound studies revealed: (i) the formation of polydispersed and spherical particles with different sizes; (ii) size reduction and homogeneity increase by ultrasound treatment. Antibacterial activity of different concentrations of green synthesized Ag NPs has been assessed on Gram-negative S. typhimurium and Gram-positive S. aureus, revealing higher sensitivity on Gram-negative bacteria.

Nanostructured silver sulfide: synthesis of various forms and their application

The results of experimental studies on nanostructured silver sulfide are analyzed and generalized. The influence of small particle size on nonstoichiometry of silver sulfide is discussed. Methods for the synthesis of various forms of nanostructured Ag2S including nanopowders, stable colloidal solutions, quantum dots, core – shell nanoparticles and heteronanostructures are described. The advantages and drawbacks of different synthetic procedures are analyzed. Main fields of application of nanostructured silver sulfide are considered.

The bibliography includes 184 references.

Biosynthesis of silver fine particles and particles decorated with nanoparticles using the extract of Illicium verum (star anise) seeds

Given the upsurge of new technologies based on nanomaterials, the development of sustainable methods to obtain functional nanostructures has become an imperative task. In this matter, several recent researches have shown that the biodegradable natural antioxidants of several plant extracts can be used simultaneously as reducing and stabilizing agents in the wet chemical synthesis of metallic nanoparticles, opening new opportunities to design greener synthesis. However, the challenge of these new techniques is to produce stable colloidal nanoparticles with controlled particle uniformity, size, shape and aggregation state, in similar manner than the well-established synthetic methods. In the present work, colloidal metallic silver nanoparticles have been synthesized using silver nitrate and extracts of Illicium verum (star anise) seeds at room temperature in a facile one-step procedure. The resulting products were colloidal suspensions of two populations of silver nanoparticles, one of them with particle sizes of few nanometers and the other with particles of tens of nm. Strikingly, the variation of the AgNO3/extract weight ratio in the reaction medium yielded to the variation of the spatial distribution of the nanoparticles: high AgNO3/extract concentration ratios yielded to randomly dispersed particles, whereas for lower AgNO3/extract ratios, the biggest particles appeared coated with the finest nanoparticles. This biosynthesized colloidal system, with controlled particle aggregation states, presents plasmonic and SERS properties with potential applications in molecular sensors and nanophotonic devices.

Improving thermo-electrochemical cell performance by constructing Ag–MgO–CNTs nanocomposite electrodes

Ag–MgO–CNTs nanocomposites were conveniently prepared using a electrophoretic deposition method, leading to significantly improved thermo-electrochemical cell performances.