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Showing papers by "Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto published in 2013"


Journal ArticleDOI
25 Oct 2013-PLOS ONE
TL;DR: The analyses of 3’UTR haplotypes showed that UTR-1 (DelTGCCCGC) was associated with higher expression of sHLA-G, whereas U TRs (UTR-2/3/4/6) exhibited intermediate levels, and the identification of individuals genetically programmed to differentially express HLA-G may help on defining novel strategies to control the immune response against the underlying disorder.
Abstract: HLA-G molecule has well-recognized tolerogenic properties, and the encoding gene shows lower frequency of polymorphism at the coding region but higher variability at regulatory 5’ and 3’ untranslated (3’UTR) regions. At least three 3’UTR polymorphic sites have been associated with HLA-G mRNA regulation, including the 14 base pair (14bp) Insertion/Deletion, +3142C-G and +3187A-G. We studied the association of polymorphic sites at 3’UTR (sequencing analysis, encompassing the 14bp Ins-Del/+3003T-C/+3010C-G/+3027C-A/+3035C-T/+3142C-G/+3187A-G/+3196C-G polymorphic sites) with plasma soluble HLA-G levels (sHLA-G, detected by ELISA) in 187 French and 153 Brazilian healthy individuals. Allele and genotype frequencies were closely similar in both populations; however, Brazilians showed a higher HLA-G 3’UTR haplotype diversity. Considering sHLA-G levels in both populations altogether, individuals presenting 14bp Del/Del showed higher levels compared to 14bpIns/Ins genotype (P <0.05); those presenting +3010C/G showed higher levels compared to the +3010C-C genotype (P< 0.05); those presenting +3027C-C showed higher levels than the +3027A-A genotype (P< 0.05); and those bearing +3035C-C showed higher levels compared to the +3035C-T (P < 0.01) and +3035T-T (P < 0.05) genotypes. The analyses of 3’UTR haplotypes showed that UTR-1 (DelTGCCCGC) was associated with higher expression of sHLA-G, whereas UTR-5 (InsTCCTGAC) and UTR-7 (InsTCATGAC) with lower expression and other UTRs (UTR-2/3/4/6) exhibited intermediate levels. Since the differential expression of HLA-G may be beneficial or harmful depending on the underlying condition, the identification of individuals genetically programmed to differentially express HLA-G may help on defining novel strategies to control the immune response against the underlying disorder.

193 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Using the theory of analytic semigroup and fractional power of closed operators, the existence of solutions for a class of semi-linear abstract impulsive differential equations with not instantaneous impulses is studied.

183 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles made from ferrous oxide through coprecipitation chemical process is reported, where the nanostructured material was coated with lauric acid and dispersed in aqueous medium containing surfactant that yielded a stable colloidal suspension.

95 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Biological activity assays revealed that stemphyperylenol can cause cytotoxic effects against N. sphaerica, although no phytotoxicity was observed in the host plant Smallanthus sonchifolius, even at concentrations much higher than those toxic to the fungus.
Abstract: Secondary metabolites produced by endophytic microorganisms can provide benefits to host plants, such as stimulating growth and enhancing the plant’s resistance toward biotic and abiotic factors. During its life, a host plant may be inhabited by many species of endophytes within a restrictive environment. This condition can stimulate secondary metabolite production that improves microbial competition and may consequently affect both the neighboring microorganisms and the host plant. The interactions between the endophytes that co-habit the same host plant have been studied. However, the effect of these interactions on the host plant has remained neglected. When using mixed microbial cultures, we found that the endophytic fungus Alternaria tenuissima significantly increased the production of some polyketides, including antifungal stemphyperylenol in response to the endophytic Nigrospora sphaerica. Biological activity assays revealed that stemphyperylenol can cause cytotoxic effects against N. sphaerica, although no phytotoxicity was observed in the host plant Smallanthus sonchifolius, even at concentrations much higher than those toxic to the fungus. The polyketides produced by A. tenuissima may be important for the ecological relationships between endophyte-endophyte and endophytes-host plants in the natural environment.

86 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
04 Jan 2013-Insects
TL;DR: The results suggest that multiple dsRNA controls should be employed in RNAi studies in honey bees, as nearly 1,400 genes are involved in important developmental and metabolic processes associated with RNA processing and transport, hormone metabolism, immunity, response to external stimulus and to stress.
Abstract: RNA interference has been frequently applied to modulate gene function in organisms where the production and maintenance of mutants is challenging, as in our model of study, the honey bee, Apis mellifera. A green fluorescent protein (GFP)-derived double-stranded RNA (dsRNA-GFP) is currently commonly used as control in honey bee RNAi experiments, since its gene does not exist in the A. mellifera genome. Although dsRNA-GFP is not expected to trigger RNAi responses in treated bees, undesirable effects on gene expression, pigmentation or developmental timing are often observed. Here, we performed three independent experiments using microarrays to examine the effect of dsRNA-GFP treatment (introduced by feeding) on global gene expression patterns in developing worker bees. Our data revealed that the expression of nearly 1,400 genes was altered in response to dsRNA-GFP, representing around 10% of known honey bee genes. Expression changes appear to be the result of both direct off-target effects and indirect downstream secondary effects; indeed, there were several instances of sequence similarity between putative siRNAs generated from the dsRNA-GFP construct and genes whose expression levels were altered. In general, the affected genes are involved in important developmental and metabolic processes associated with RNA processing and transport, hormone metabolism, immunity, response to external stimulus and to stress. These results suggest that multiple dsRNA controls should be employed in RNAi studies in honey bees. Furthermore, any RNAi studies involving these genes affected by dsRNA-GFP in our studies should use a different dsRNA control.

81 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Sensitive techniques for the quantification of juvenile hormone levels circulating in haemolymph, as well as its synthesis by the corpora aliata are described and a standard method for the detection and analysis of certain biogenic amines of interest is presented.
Abstract: Summary Despite their tremendous economic importance, and apart from certain topics in the field of neurophysiology such as vision, olfaction, learning and memory, honey bees are not a typical model system for studying general questions of insect physiology. The reason is their social lifestyle, which sets them apart from a “typical insect” and, during social evolution, has resulted in the restructuring of certain physiological pathways and biochemical characteristics in this insect. Not surprisingly, the questions that have attracted most attention by researchers working on honey bee physiology and biochemistry in general are core topics specifically related to social organization, such as caste development, reproductive division of labour and polyethism within the worker caste. With certain proteins playing key roles in these processes, such as the major royal jelly proteins (MRJPs), including royalactin and hexamerins in caste development, and vitellogenin in reproductive division of labour and age polyethism, a major section herein will present and discuss basic laboratory protocols for protein analyses established and standardized to address such questions in bees. A second major topic concerns endocrine mechanisms underlying processes of queen and worker development, as well as reproduction and polyethism, especially the roles of juvenile hormone and ecdysteroids. Sensitive techniques for the quantification of juvenile hormone levels circulating in haemolymph, as well as its synthesis by the corpora allata are described. Although these require certain instrumentation and a considerable degree of sophistication in the analysis procedures, we considered that presenting these techniques would be of interest to laboratories planning to specialize in such analyses. Since biogenic amines are both neurotransmitters and regulators of endocrine glands, we also present a standard method for the detection and analysis of certain biogenic amines of interest. Further questions that cross borders between individual and social physiology are related to energy metabolism and thermoregulation. Thus a further three sections are dedicated to protocols on carbohydrate quantification in body fluid, body temperature measurement and respirometry.

75 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This is the first study to demonstrate the protective effect of CAPE against the dopaminergic neuronal loss induced by 6-hydroxydopamine in rats and demonstrates, for the first time, the inhibitory effect ofCAPE on mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT), a mediator of neuronal death that triggers cytochrome c release and caspase-3 activation.

68 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors studied the influence of drying temperature and relative humidity on the solubility, mechanical properties, water vapor permeability (WVP), and drying time of amaranth flour films plasticized with glycerol or sorbitol.
Abstract: In this work we studied the influence of the drying temperature and relative humidity on the solubility, mechanical properties, water vapor permeability (WVP), and drying time of amaranth flour films plasticized with glycerol or sorbitol The effect of drying temperature and relative humidity on the mechanical properties of the film is a function of the plasticizer type In the presence of glycerol, tougher flour films are obtained at a lower drying rate, but an inverse behavior is observed for the films plasticized with sorbitol The drying conditions do not have a significant effect on WVP compared with sorbitol-plasticized samples, the water sorption isotherm shows that the glycerol-plasticized flour films are able to retain more water at equilibrium at all the studied temperatures The lower moisture content, WVP and drying time achieved for these films in all the drying conditions indicate better interaction of sorbitol with the starch and protein macromolecules present in the amaranth flour The optimized drying conditions are 50 °C and 762% RH, and 35 °C and 703% RH for the films plasticized with glycerol and sorbitol, respectively

68 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The nano-drug AMB delivery system appeared more effective than free D-AMB therapy to reduce the dose frequency required to achieve the same therapeutic level, and thus favors a longer interval between doses, as expected with development of a new nano drug delivery system, and may be useful in the treatment of many different pathologies.

63 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Investigation of the effects of glycosylation on the thermostability of Bacillus subtilis xylanase A (XynA) expressed in Pichia pastoris indicated that clustered glycan chains tended to favor less stabilizing glycan-glycan interactions, whereas more dispersed gly cosylation patterns favored stabilizing protein- glycan interactions.

62 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: ClAlPc nanoencapsulation could enable application of this hydrophobic photosensitizer in the treatment of malignant melanoma with the use of both low sensitizer drug concentration and light dose.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results show that M. fasciculata is an efficient pollinator of eggplants and, consequently, may be a viable alternative to bumblebees in Brazil.
Abstract: Detailed studies of the behavior of pollinators allow insights into pollination mechanisms and may indicate which pollinators are more efficient for a particular plant species. Our aim was to evaluate if Melipona fasciculata is an efficient pollinator of eggplant (Solanum melongena L., Solanaceae) in greenhouses. We analyzed (1) the colony foraging pattern of M. fasciculata in greenhouses, (2) the behavior of bees during the visits to flowers, and (3) fruit set and fruit quality after different pollination treatments (hand pollination: autogamy, geitonogamy, xenogamy; bee pollination). Our results show that M. fasciculata is an efficient pollinator of eggplants and, consequently, may be a viable alternative to bumblebees in Brazil.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The time-resolved spectroscopy measurements for AlClPc triplet excited state lifetimes indicate that encapsulation in nanocapsules increases triplet lifetime, which is advantageous for PDT efficiency.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results revealed that the AChE-ICER developed herein represents a useful tool for the biological screening of inhibitor candidates and evaluation of action mechanism.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a planar waveguide with a uniform refractive index distribution across the thickness of the waveguide was presented, which exhibited uniform light injection at 1538nm and low losses at 632 and 1538 nm.

Journal ArticleDOI
03 Apr 2013-PLOS ONE
TL;DR: The assembled bacterial endosymbiont sequences exhibit a high A+T content and contain enzymes that complement essential host cell biosynthetic pathways, such as those for amino acid, lipid and purine/pyrimidine metabolism, and indicate that these organisms hold a common ancestor related to the Alcaligenaceae family.
Abstract: Endosymbiont-bearing trypanosomatids have been considered excellent models for the study of cell evolution because the host protozoan co-evolves with an intracellular bacterium in a mutualistic relationship. Such protozoa inhabit a single invertebrate host during their entire life cycle and exhibit special characteristics that group them in a particular phylogenetic cluster of the Trypanosomatidae family, thus classified as monoxenics. In an effort to better understand such symbiotic association, we used DNA pyrosequencing and a reference-guided assembly to generate reads that predicted 16,960 and 12,162 open reading frames (ORFs) in two symbiont-bearing trypanosomatids, Angomonas deanei (previously named as Crithidia deanei) and Strigomonas culicis (first known as Blastocrithidia culicis), respectively. Identification of each ORF was based primarily on TriTrypDB using tblastn, and each ORF was confirmed by employing getorf from EMBOSS and Newbler 2.6 when necessary. The monoxenic organisms revealed conserved housekeeping functions when compared to other trypanosomatids, especially compared with Leishmania major. However, major differences were found in ORFs corresponding to the cytoskeleton, the kinetoplast, and the paraflagellar structure. The monoxenic organisms also contain a large number of genes for cytosolic calpain-like and surface gp63 metalloproteases and a reduced number of compartmentalized cysteine proteases in comparison to other TriTryp organisms, reflecting adaptations to the presence of the symbiont. The assembled bacterial endosymbiont sequences exhibit a high A+T content with a total of 787 and 769 ORFs for the Angomonas deanei and Strigomonas culicis endosymbionts, respectively, and indicate that these organisms hold a common ancestor related to the Alcaligenaceae family. Importantly, both symbionts contain enzymes that complement essential host cell biosynthetic pathways, such as those for amino acid, lipid and purine/pyrimidine metabolism. These findings increase our understanding of the intricate symbiotic relationship between the bacterium and the trypanosomatid host and provide clues to better understand eukaryotic cell evolution.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: These values show that rare earth doped nanocrystals can be useful for applications in optical quantum information processing, in the range of several MHz.
Abstract: A homogeneous linewidth of $85.6\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}4.4\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{kHz}$ is reported in 60 nm ${\mathrm{Eu}}^{3+}$ doped ${\mathrm{Y}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ nanocrystals at 1.3 K. This linewidth was measured by two-pulse photon echoes on highly scattering powders using heterodyne detection. Spectral diffusion was also investigated by three-pulse photon echoes and resulted in a limited broadening of the homogenous linewidth of about 250 kHz over $120\text{ }\text{ }\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{s}$. Compared to achievable Rabi frequencies, in the range of several MHz, these values show that rare earth doped nanocrystals can be useful for applications in optical quantum information processing.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This study describes a global gene expression analysis of A. niger XlnR- and AraR-deficient mutant strains, grown on a D-xylose/L-arabinose monosaccharide mixture and steam-exploded sugarcane bagasse, and contributes to understanding of the complex regulatory mechanisms responsible for plant polysaccharide-degrading gene expression.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Regulation by miRNAs was investigated and revealed a number of candidates for the post-transcriptional regulation of immune genes in bees and suggested a pathway-specific control of AMP and transferrin-1 gene expression.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This study compares two xylanases produced by filamentous fungi such as A. niger and A. flavus using agroindustrial residues as substract and evaluated the effect of these enzymes on cellulose pulp biobleaching process.
Abstract: This study compares two xylanases produced by filamentous fungi such as A. niger and A. flavus using agroindustrial residues as substract and evaluated the effect of these enzymes on cellulose pulp biobleaching process. Wheat bran was the best carbon source for xylanase production by A. niger and A. flavus. The production of xylanase was 18 and 21% higher on wheat bran when we compare the xylanase production with xylan. At 50°C, the xylanase of A. niger retained over 85% activity with 2 h of incubation, and A. flavus had a half-life of more than 75 minutes. At 55°C, the xylanase produced by A. niger showed more stable than from A. flavus showing a half-life of more than 45 minutes. The xylanase activity of A. niger and A. flavus were somehow protected in the presence of glycerol 5% when compared to the control (without additives). On the biobleaching assay it was observed that the xylanase from A. flavus was more effective in comparison to A. niger. The kappa efficiency corresponded to 36.32 and 25.93, respectively. That is important to emphasize that the cellulase activity was either analyzed and significant levels were not detected, which explain why the viscosity was not significantly modified.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the same authors developed a set of platinum and glassy carbon electrodes chemically modified with films of Schiff bases of [UO 2 (3-MeOSalen)(H 2 O)] and H 2 O to determine cocaine.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Evaluating the health-related quality of life in individuals with diabetes mellitus before and after their participation in a five-month educational program in a primary care service in Brazil in 2008 suggested improvements in all the domain components.
Abstract: This quasi-experimental study aimed to evaluate the health-related quality of life in individuals with diabetes mellitus before and after their participation in a five-month educational program in a primary care service in Brazil in 2008. The sample consisted of 51 individuals, 56.9% female and 43.1% male, who had a mean age of 57.65 ± 11.44 years. Data were collected using the Portuguese version of the SF-36 questionnaire. The instrument had adequate reliability estimates for the study sample. Cronbach's alpha for the two components of the instrument, physical and mental, were 0.83 and 0.89, respectively. The findings suggested improvements in all the domain components; however, only the general health domain, before (63.96 ± 19.03) and after (70.59 ± 17.82) the educational program, presented statistically significant mean differences, t(50) = 2.16, p<0.05. Participation in the educational program also contributed to improvements in the perceptions of the individuals regarding their general health status.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the performance of a DET (direct electron transfer) bioanode containing both PQQ-ADH (pyrroloquinoline quinone-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase) and PQ q-AldDH (PQ qdependent aldehyde dehydrogenases) was compared on different modified electrode surfaces employing either a tetrabutylammonium (TBAB)-modified Nafion ® membrane polymer or polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers for the enzyme immobilization.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: PDT mediated by the new formulation ZnPcS4-AN enhanced the inhibition of tumor growth while producing practically no adverse effects and thus emerges as a very promising nanotechnology-based strategy for solid cancer treatment.
Abstract: The increasing incidence of cancer and the search for more effective therapies with minimal collateral effects have prompted studies to find alternative new treatments. Among these, photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been proposed as a very promising new modality in cancer treatment with the lowest rates of side effects, revealing itself to be particularly successful when the photosensitizer is associated with nanoscaled carriers. This study aimed to design and develop a new formulation based on albumin nanospheres containing zinc-phthalocyanine tetrasulfonate (ZnPcS4-AN) for use in the PDT protocol and to investigate its antitumor activity in Swiss albino mice using the Ehrlich solid tumor as an experimental model for breast cancer. Ehrlich tumor’s volume, histopathology and morphometry were used to assess the efficacy of intratumoral injection of ZnPcS4-AN in containing tumor aggressiveness and promoting its regression, while the toxicity of possible treatments was assessed by animal weight, morphological analysis of the liver and kidneys, hemogram, and serum levels of total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, indirect bilirubin, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT), alkaline phosphatase, creatinine and urea. In order to evaluate the efficacy of PDT, groups of animals treated with intratumoral injection of doxorubicin (Dox) were also investigated. Intratumoral injection of ZnPcS4-AN was found to be efficient in mediating PDT to refrain tumor aggressiveness and to induce its regression. Although tumor volume reduction was not significant, PDT induced a remarkable increase in the necrosis area seen in the tumor’s central region, as in other experimental groups, including tumor and Dox treated groups, but also in the tumor’s peripheral region. Further, PDT showed minimal adverse effects. Indeed, the use of ZnPcS4-AN in mediating PDT revealed anti-neoplastic activity similar to that obtained while using intratumoral Dox therapy. PDT mediated by the new formulation ZnPcS4-AN enhanced the inhibition of tumor growth while producing practically no adverse effects and thus emerges as a very promising nanotechnology-based strategy for solid cancer treatment.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Kinetic and biophysical characterization of the stimulation of a β-glucosidase from Humicola insolens by glucose and xylose reveals allosteric interactions between the MS and the CS in H. insolens β- glucOSidase that result in fine modulation of the catalytic activity by the monosaccharides.
Abstract: β-Glucosidases activated by glucose and xylose are uncommon yet intriguing enzymes that may enhance cellulose saccharification efficiency, and are of interest for application in bioethanol production processes. The molecular mechanisms of activation are completely unknown, and the aim of this study was the kinetic and biophysical characterization of the stimulation of a β-glucosidase from Humicola insolens by glucose and xylose. The effects of the monosaccharides were concentration dependent, where in a stimulatory range (0.1–50 mmol L−1), the activity increased up to 2-fold; in a stimulatory-inhibitory range (50–450 mmol L−1 glucose or 50–730 mmol L−1 xylose), the enzyme continued to be stimulated, but the activity was lower than maximal. Above 450 mmol L−1 glucose or 730 mmol L−1 xylose, increasing inhibition occurred. Dynamic light scattering confirmed that the enzyme is monomeric (54 kDa) and kinetic, intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence emission and far ultraviolet circular dichroism analyses indicated that the enzyme possesses a catalytic site (CS) and a modulator binding site (MS). Glucose or xylose binding to the MS induces conformational changes that stimulate the catalytic activity at the CS. Glucose and xylose may compete with the substrate for the CS while the substrate competes with the monosaccharides for binding to the MS. The stimulation of the enzymatic activity by glucose and xylose, which compete for the same sites on the enzyme molecule, is not synergistic. These data reveal allosteric interactions between the MS and the CS in H. insolens β-glucosidase that result in fine modulation of the catalytic activity by the monosaccharides. A kinetic model was developed that accurately described the experimental data for enzyme stimulation by glucose and/or xylose. Understanding the regulatory mechanisms of the enzyme activity, with the aid of kinetic models, may be useful for the application of the enzyme in cellulose hydrolysis processes.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A molecularly imprinted sol-gel polymer (MIP) based on protein template with a mild template removal condition using protease was synthetized and evaluated as stationary phase for in-tube solid phase microextraction (in-tube SPME) of the interferon alpha 2a from plasma samples, followed by high performance liquid chromatography analysis with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FD) as mentioned in this paper.

Journal ArticleDOI
25 Nov 2013-PLOS ONE
TL;DR: Experiments with cyanide-m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) strongly suggest that hxtB, -C, and –E mediate glucose transport via active proton symport, indicating that these transporters accept multiple sugars as a substrate through an energy dependent process.
Abstract: To characterize the mechanisms involved in glucose transport, in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans, we have identified four glucose transporter encoding genes hxtB-E. We evaluated the ability of hxtB-E to functionally complement the Saccharomyces cerevisiae EBY.VW4000 strain that is unable to grow on glucose, fructose, mannose or galactose as single carbon source. In S. cerevisiae HxtB-E were targeted to the plasma membrane. The expression of HxtB, HxtC and HxtE was able to restore growth on glucose, fructose, mannose or galactose, indicating that these transporters accept multiple sugars as a substrate through an energy dependent process. A tenfold excess of unlabeled maltose, galactose, fructose, and mannose were able to inhibit glucose uptake to different levels (50 to 80 %) in these s. cerevisiae complemented strains. Moreover, experiments with cyanide-m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP), strongly suggest that hxtB, -C, and –E mediate glucose transport via active proton symport. The A. nidulans ΔhxtB, ΔhxtC or ΔhxtE null mutants showed ~2.5-fold reduction in the affinity for glucose, while ΔhxtB and -C also showed a 2-fold reduction in the capacity for glucose uptake. The ΔhxtD mutant had a 7.8-fold reduction in affinity, but a 3-fold increase in the capacity for glucose uptake. However, only the ΔhxtB mutant strain showed a detectable decreased rate of glucose consumption at low concentrations and an increased resistance to 2-deoxyglucose.

Journal ArticleDOI
15 Nov 2013-Talanta
TL;DR: In this work the selected target was the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE), which acts on the central nervous system and is a validated target for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, as well as for new insecticides.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The proposed analytical methodology was reliable, and both extracts showed similar chemical composition, while the extracts presented antioxidant and antimicrobial effects, while PWE demonstrated higher antioxidant activity and more efficacious for the most of the microorganisms tested than PEE.
Abstract: Since the beginning of propolis research, several groups have studied its antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties. However, most of these studies have only employed propolis ethanolic extract (PEE) leading to little knowledge about the biological activities of propolis water extract (PWE). Based on this, in a previous study, we demonstrated the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities of PWE. In order to better understand the equilibrium between effectiveness and toxicity, which is essential for a new medicine, the characteristics of PWE were analyzed. We developed and validated an RP-HPLC method to chemically characterize PWE and PEE and evaluated the in vitro antioxidant/antimicrobial activity for both extracts and the safety of PWE via determining genotoxic potential using in vitro and in vivo mammalian micronucleus assays. We have concluded that the proposed analytical methodology was reliable, and both extracts showed similar chemical composition. The extracts presented antioxidant and antimicrobial effects, while PWE demonstrated higher antioxidant activity and more efficacious for the most of the microorganisms tested than PEE. Finally, PWE was shown to be safe using micronucleus assays.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results strongly indicate that propolis could be used as a strategy for controlling candidiasis, and it is shown that a topical pharmaceutical preparation, based upon propolis, was able to control C. albicans infections in a mouse model for vulvovaginal candidiasis.