Anticandidal activity of propolis and pollens obtained from Bitlis and Ağrı

Propolis and pollen, which are among the natural substances researched with increasing interest due to antibiotic resistance developed by pathogens, are traditional antimicrobial agents used against resistant pathogens. In the conducted thesis study was aimed to determine the anticandidal activities of propolis and pollen samples, obtained from Bitlis and Ağrı, against Candida species (C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. kefyr, C. krusei, C. parapsilosis, C. tropicalis) by disk diffusion test and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) test. It was observed that the anticandidal activity of propolis extracts was higher than the pollen extracts against Candida species. It was determined that most concentrations of propolis extracts (except for the 1st sample) obtained from Ağrı presented similar inhibition zones against other Candida species except C. albicans. According to the results of the disc diffusion test, it was determined that the pollen samples obtained from Ağrı showed higher anticandidal activity than the pollen samples obtained from Bitlis, while the MIC and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) values were found to be closer to each other. It was seen that the 4th propolis sample obtained from Bitlis showed the greatest inhibition zone (26.00±1.41 mm) against C. parapsilosis. 100% and 75% concentrates of the pollen extracts from both provinces formed the inhibition zone of 7.00±0.00-11.00±1.41 mm against Candida species. It was determined that MIC values of propolis and pollen extracts against Candida species were 0,000975-0,125 µL/mL and 0,125-0,25 µL/mL, respectively and MFC values of the extracts were 0,000975-0,25 µL/mL and 0,25-0,5 µL/mL, respectively. Consequently, these results showed that the propolis and pollen samples can be used as both fungistatic and fungicidal, they can show synergistic effects when combined with antibiotics, and they have the potential to be used as a complementary agent for increasing antimicrobial resistance.