ANTIBACTERIAL EFFICIENCY OF FIVE PROPOLIS EXTRACTS ON
PLANKTONIC AND ADHERENT MICROBIAL STRAINS
ABBAS HAZEM1, CARMEN VIOLETA POPESCU3,4*, IULIANA CRIȘAN3, MARCELA POPA2, MARIANA CARMEN CHIFIRIUC2, GRAȚIELA GRADIȘTEANU PIRCALABIORU2, DUMITRU LUPULIASA1
1“Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania
2Research Institute of the University of Bucharest, ICUB, Bucharest, Romania
3S.C. HOFIGAL Export Import S.A., Bucharest, Romania
4“Vasile Goldiş” Western University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Arad, Romania
*corresponding author: popescu_carmen88@yahoo.com
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Abstract:
Due to its complex composition which includes esters, flavonoids, terpenes and coumaric acids, propolis harbours a wide
array of biological activities. Among these, the antimicrobial activity is well established. We used reference strains
represented by Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC
27853 and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and we determined the MIC (minimal inhibitory concentration) and MBEC
(minimum biofilm eradication concentration) values for different propolis extracts (30% aqueous propolis solution, 50%
aqueous propolis solution and 30% aqueous propolis solution, buffered to pH = 6.8; 30% propolis tincture and 50% propolis
tincture). The results of the quantitative tests revealed the antimicrobial and anti-biofilm characteristics of the propolis
extracts, highlighting their potential use as antimicrobial agents. Importantly, the more diluted aqueous and alcoholic extracts
(30%), were the higher efficiency compared to the concentrated ones (50%), had thus suggesting the need for an aqueous
medium to optimally solubilize the antimicrobial compounds.

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