Investigation of antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties of bee products with high apitherapical value

Because of it's the geographical location, Turkey houses a large variety of bee products. In the completed thesis, the apitherapeutic functions of some bee product from the Turkey flora have been investigated. In this regard, five monofloral honey samples (chetsnut, heather, pine, oak, and buckwheat), three different propolis samples (Balıkesir,Kars, and Trabzon), three different pollens (Anzer, Balıkesir, and Erzurum) along with samples of royal jellies and bee venom were tested in vitro for their bioactive potentials including anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory. In this thesis, the bee products are arranged for their potentials as follows: propolis> pollen > honey > royal jelly >bee venom. The bioactive potentials of honey samples were determined to be chestnut >oak >heather > pine > buckwheat. Darker color honey samples had more bioactive potential, which was also positively correlated with the total phenolic contents. Honey, pollen, propolis and royal jelly demonstrated varying anti-inflammatory activities (IC50) as measured by their anti-human testicular hyaluronidase effects. In conclusion, this in vitro study demonstrated that bee products have significant therapeutic and prophylactic potentials for some conditions in humans, which require furhers in vivo confirmation.