%0 Journal Article
%T Propolis: A Wonder Bees Product and Its Pharmacological Potentials
%A Vijay D. Wagh
%J Advances in Pharmacological Sciences
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/308249
%X Propolis is a natural resinous mixture produced by honey bees from substances collected from parts of plants, buds, and exudates. Due to its waxy nature and mechanical properties, bees use propolis in the construction and repair of their hives for sealing openings and cracks and smoothing out the internal walls and as a protective barrier against external invaders like snakes, lizards, and so forth, or against weathering threats like wind and rain. Bees gather propolis from different plants, in the temperate climate zone mainly from poplar. Current antimicrobial applications of propolis include formulations for cold syndrome (upper respiratory tract infections, common cold, and flu-like infections), wound healing, treatment of burns, acne, herpes simplex and genitalis, and neurodermatitis. Worldwide propolis has a tremendous popularity, but in India the studies over propolis have just started, not extensively reported except few regions of India like Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Gujrat, and Madhya Pradesh. 1. Introduction Propolis is a natural resinous mixture produced by honeybees from substances collected from parts of plants, buds, and exudates. The word propolis is derived from Greek, in which pro stands for ¡°at the entrance to¡± and polis for ¡°community¡± or ¡°city,¡± which means this natural product is used in hive defense. Another name of propolis is bee glue. Due to its waxy nature and mechanical properties, bees use propolis in the construction and repair of their hives¡ªfor sealing openings and cracks and smoothing out the internal walls [1, 2] and as a protective barrier against external invaders like snakes, lizards, and so forth, or against wind and rain. Bees gather propolis from different plants in different temperate climatic zones. Honey and propolis provide beneficial effect on human health. Since ancient times propolis has been extensively employed by man, especially in folk medicine to treat several maladies. Egyptians used bee glue to embalm their cadavers as they well knew about its putrefactive properties. Incas employed propolis as an antipyretic agent. Greek and Roman physicians used it as mouth disinfectant and as an antiseptic and healing product in wound treatment, prescribed for topical therapy of cutaneous and mucosal wounds [2]. Propolis was listed as an official drug in the London pharmacopoeias of the 17th century. Due to its antibacterial activity, in Europe propolis became very popular between the 17th and 20th centuries. In Italy bee glue was used as a violin varnish [3] by Stradivari. In the end of the 19th
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aps/2013/308249/