The Medical Usage of Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester (CAPE), an Active Compound of Propolis, in Neurological Disorders and Emergencies

Abstract

Propolis is a compound produced by honey bee with a heavy beautiful odor after a serial process in his saliva. Normally, this product has been used by honey bee to protect the hives from some enfected single cells such as bacteria and fungi, to embalm the foreign materials, and to repair all the cracks within the hives. Grunberger and his friends from Columbia University located in New York extracted and identified caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) from propolis. It is an active compound which has several functions like antioxidant. After that time, a lot of scientists started to study this great compound and published their hundreds of findings in medical journals. In early 1990s, CAPE was produced by Sigma-Aldrich company as a commercial product and the scientists have been easily get it from the company branches and use it their medical researches. In this review article, it is going to be tried to answer some questions on what was CAPE’s usage and how in neurological disorders and neurological emergencies. In the experimental studies, it has been found to be a unique agent in preventing reperfusion injuries after ischemia reperfusion processes and also it is going to find a new usage area in geriatric disorders itself under the light of the findings from experimental animal models.