INVESTIGATION OF ANTIMICROBIAL AND ANTIVIRAL EFFECTS OF TÜRKIYE PROPOLIS WATER EXTRACTS: AN IN VITRO STUDY

Propolis is a natural bee product used as a therapeutic agent for centuries. Propolis extracts are natural resources that attract the attention of scientists looking for new components due to the insufficiency of existing drugs. In current study, antiviral and antimicrobial activity of propolis water extracts prepared from three different raw propolis samples collected from Northeast of Türkiye (Ardahan, Rize, and Trabzon) were investigated. The total flavonoid contents (TFC) and total phenolic content (TPC) of the extracts were measured. It was determined that TPC and TFC ranged from 5.87±0.36 to 20.47±1.46 mg GAE g-1, and 0.48±0.04 to 2.10±0.22 mg QUE g-1, respectively. The antimicrobial activity of the extracts against 14 microorganisms (Bacillus cereus ATCC14579, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212, Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Acinetobacter haemolyticus ATCC 19002, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 14028, Enterobacter aerogenes ATCC 13048, Mycobacterium smegmatis ATCC 607, Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 13883, Chromobacterium violaceum ATCC 12472, Candida parapsilosis ATCC 22019, and Candida albicans ATCC 10231) and their effect against the Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm were investigated. Additionally, anti-quorum sensing and anti-swarming activities of the extracts were tested. The antiviral activity of the extracts was examined against Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) by MTT and qRT-PCR methods. The water extracts of propolis samples did not show antimicrobial, anti-swarming, anti-quorum sensing, and anti-viral activities. However, extracts were found to have strong anti-biofilm activities. The results show that aquatic propolis extracts can be evaluated in the treatment of biofilms.