INVESTIGATION OF THE ANTIMICROBIAL EFFECT OF HONEYBEE VENOMS (APITOXIN) FROM APIS MELLIFERA CAUCASICA AND APIS MELLIFERA CARNICA

The discovery of new therapeutic agents is crucial in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. The antimicrobial potential of apitoxin from Apis mellifera caucasica and A. m. carnica (Hymenoptera: Apidae) was tested in vitro against Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus ATCC-25923, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC-29212), Gram-negative (Escherichia coli ATCC-25922, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC-27853) bacterial strains and a fungal pathogen (Candida albicans ATCC-10231). Using an electro stimulation technique, Apitoxin was extracted from honey bee colonies under standardized conditions between May 2022 and April 2023. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated using the disk diffusion method and the results were compared with standard antibiotics (ampicillin, vancomycin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, itraconazole) to calculate the antibiotic equivalence of the apitoxins. Apitoxin from both subspecies showed dose-dependent inhibitory effects against all microorganisms tested. The highest activity was observed against E. coli, with inhibition zone diameters of 16.6±0.2 mm for A. m. caucasica and 17.0±0.2 mm for A. m. carnica (p0.05). The results indicate that apitoxin has a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity and could be used as a therapeutic agent.