Propolis, Plant Sources and Antimicrobial Activity: an overview

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance was described soon after the discovery of penicillin by Fleming. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in developing alternatives to solve this problem. Propolis «Bee glue» has been used by humans in folk medicine since ancient times, it is a natural resinous mixture produced by honeybees (Apis mellifera) from collected parts of plants. Many studies reported that the phytochemical composition of Bee glue is complex and highly variable and depends on plant species, thus, determining their biological and pharmacological properties. Propolis is considered a potential an-ti-microbial agent that overcomes the phenomenon of antibiotic resistance. Therefore, its combination with standard antibiotics could be a very useful strategy in the medical field, to treat infectious diseases.