Ferguson, G; Hourihane, R; Fernandes da Silva, CC; Salatino, A; da Motta, LB; Negri, G; Faria Salatino, ML
Propolis (bee glue) a product of Apis mellifera L. is a resinous mixture containing chiefly beeswax and resin harvested by bees from plant leaves, buds and exudates. Extracts of a propolis sample from Salitre, a municipality of Ceará state (northeast Brazil) were obtained with solvents of increasing polarity (hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol). A chemical profile was carried out by GCâEI-MS and HPLCâDADâESI-MS/MS. Lupenone, lupeol, octanoic acid tetracosyl ester and octanoic acid hexacosyl ester were identified by GCâEI-MS. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by the DPPH and β-carotene discoloring methods, and anti-HIV activity by the in vitro inhibition of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. The ethyl acetate extract exhibited the highest antioxidant and anti-HIV activity and was fractioned by column chromatography using silica gel and seven different eluents. The active fractions were submitted to semi preparative HPLC and the following compounds were isolated: caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, diprenylcinnamic acid, quercetin, naringenin, isorhamnetin, quercetin-3-O-diglucoside,4,2â²,4â²-trihydroxy-2-methoxychalcone, gossypetin-3,3â²,4â²,7-tetramethyl ether, myricetin-3,7,3â²-trimethyl ether and 5-hydroxy-3,6,7,8,4â²-pentamethoxyflavone. The ethyl acetate extract and its fractions F5-F7, as well as quercetin, isorhamnetin, myricetin-3,7,3â²-trimethyl ether and p-coumaric acid exhibited high antioxidant activity on both DPPH and β-carotene antioxidant methods. Isorhamnetin exhibited moderate inhibitory effect against HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (56.99 ± 3.91%), followed by naringenin (44.22 ± 1.71%), quercetin (43.41 ± 4.56%) and diprenylcinnamic acid (41.59 ± 2.59%). These results agree with previous authors who reported anti-HIV activity of flavonoids. © 2019 Sociedade Brasileira de Farmacognosia