THE ANTIVIRAL/VIRUCIDAL EFFECTS OF ALCHOOLIC AND
AQUEOUS EXTRACTS WITH PROPOLIS
ABBAS HAZEM1#, IOANA MĂDĂLINA PITICĂ-ALDEA2#, CARMEN POPESCU3, 4#*, LILIA MATEI2#, DENISA DRAGU2#, MIHAELA ECONOMESCU2#, IRINA ALEXIU2#, IULIANA CRIŞAN3#, CARMEN CRISTINA DIACONU2#, CORALIA BLEOTU2#, DUMITRU LUPULIASA1#
1“Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania
2“Ștefan S. Nicolau” Institute of Virology, 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
#All authors have equal contribution.
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Abstract:
The objective of this study was to evaluate the antiviral/virucidal characteristics of two types of propolis extracts (alcoholic
and aqueous) against human pathogenic DNA-viruses. In our tests three virus strains were used: HSV1 (Herpex simplex
virus) (strain VR # 3), Varicella zoster (VZV) and adenovirus type 5 (ADV5). The cells used in each experiment were
selected according to their sensitivity to produce high titers of infectious viruses. Non-cytotoxic concentrations of
aqueous/alcoholic propolis extracts were tested so that the toxic effect does not overlap with the cytopathic effect. After
treatment, the titer of each virus was determined by daily monitoring of the occurrence and evolution of cytopathic effect and
by immunofluorescence. At non-cytotoxic concentrations, we have not depicted a significant reduction in the viral titre, so
we concluded that propolis extract pre-/post-treatment do not provide antiviral protection, for all tested viruses. As virucid,
propolis tincture showed a strong anti-HSV, VZV activity in direct contact with virus, similar to that of acyclovir, cafeic and
chlorogenic acids. The propolis aqueous extract was less efficient on HSV and VZV, even in direct contact, but showed the
strongest inhibitory effect in the pre-treatment of ADV5 infected cells.

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