Anti-Bacterial Effect of Propolis Extract in Oil Against Different Bacteria

Background: Propolis is one of the most potent natural antibiotics. Propolis as an active natural substance is attractive due to its antimicrobial properties. Propolis has been used in folk medicine for centuries. It is known that propolis possesses anti-microbial, antioxidative, anti-ulcer and anti-tumor activities. Therefore, propolis has attracted much attention in recent years as a useful or potential substance used in medicine. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to verify the activity of an oily liquid extract of propolis that called propolis extract in oil against some Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Methods: In this experimental study antimicrobial activity of oily liquid extract of propolis called propolis extract in oil with different concentration of ethanol, methanol and dimethyl sulfoxide as diluents against different bacteria species. The duration of study set up was from Nov 2014 to Sep 2015. Chi-Square and Kappa methods, using Open Epi and Graph Pad Prism Software (Graph Pad, San Diego, California, USA). Graphs were plotted by Microsoft Excel software. Results: In the agar diffusion tests, using wells containing propolis suspension with methanol / dimethyl sulfoxide / ethanol per wells, the some of bacteria were most sensitive to the effect of propolis preparations. No growth inhibition zone was shown in the agar diffusion test with paper disks impregnate with methanol/ dimethyl sulfoxide suspension. Conclusions: The evaluation of the examination results showed that the effectiveness of the extract against bacteria may be explained by the fact that the effect of oily propolis was statistically significant by the introduction of methanol and dimethyl sulfoxide.