Supervisors info:
Προεστός Χαράλαμπος Αναπλ. Καθηγητής Τμήμα Χημείας ΕΚΠΑ,
Δασενάκη Μαριλένα Επίκ. Καθηγήτριά Τμήμα Χημείας ΕΚΠΑ,
Βαλδραμίδης Βασίλειος Αναπλ. Καθηγητής Τμήμα Χημείας ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
Bees, out of all insects, are considered the most important for both humans and nature. Their disappearance would constitute a threat to the life on this planet, as they are responsible for the fertilization of 60-70% of plants. Albert Einstein's sentence is noteworthy, who said that "If the bee ever disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than a few years to leave".
Propolis (bee glue) is one of the most valuable bee products with healing properties. It has been proven to possess wide range of biological activity (antimicrobial, antiviral, antiinflammatory, antitumor, etc.), due to different propolis constituents. Chemical composition of propolis is highly variable and depends mainly on the local flora. The properties it has make it particularly important for human life.
In this thesis, a total of 25 different samples of propolis from all over Greece, were examined. More specifically samples from the same regions were compared in terms of their antioxidant capacity and total polyphenol content, following the DPPH and Folin-Ciocalteau methods, respectively. Afterwards, the samples with the best properties were screened using HTPLC method, in order to do an in vitro study on their chemical signature, which can be seen from chromatograms.
The values of the antioxidant activity varied from 0,21 to 18.09 mM Trolox and the values of the phenolic content varied from 20 to 11.723 mg GA/L. The highest antioxidant activity shows the sample from Vasilitsa. While the smaller antioxidant activity with method DPPH posses the sample from Samothrace. The highest content of total phenolic compounds present in propolis sample was from Argos and the smaller the sample from Smothrace. Screening, with HTPLC method, showed that all the samples that have been examined, contain several phenolic substances, such as Chlorogenic acid,gallic acid, myricetin, caffeic acid και ferulic acid. The sample from Argos seems to have the richest composition.
Keywords:
propolis, comparison, antioxidant capacity, polyphenol content, chemical signature
