Investigation of Antibacterial Activities and Cytotoxicity of Bee Pollen Ethanol Extract: Determination of Phenolic Acid and Sugar Contents by Using Chromatographic Methods

In this study, phenolic acid content of bee pollen ethanol extract was investigated using TLC and LC-MS-MS and HPLC-RID methods, and vanillic acid, caffeic acid, gallic acid, and ellagic acid were identified. Antimicrobial activity of bee pollen ethanol extract mixture was screened against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) and Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) species by using TLC bioautography, minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC), and disc diffusion methods. Pollen extract showed antibacterial activity against S. aureus and E. coli; disc diffusion test results showed 16 and 10 mm inhibition zone at 6000 μg/mL concentration. Caffeic acid and gallic acid showed inhibitory action against both S. aureus and E. coli in TLC bioautography studies. Glucose (3.78 ± 0.14 mg/mL), fructose (6.56 ± 0.17 mg/mL), and sucrose (0.13 ± 0.02 mg/mL) were detected as main carbohydrates in pollen extract. Extract did not show significant cytotoxic effect at all tested concentrations on HEK-293 cells.