Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory and Anti-Acne Activities of Stingless Bee (tetragonula Biroi) Propolis.

We collected stingless bee propolis Tetragonula biroi in order to find materials for medicine and cosmetics ap-plications from tropical rainforest resources. Even though this bee has some biological functions including a cancer cell line, hair growth promotion, asthma remedy, alpha-glucosidase enzyme inhibition, and antiviral action, the investigation on anti-acne has not been reported yet. This study was to focus on propolis Tetragonula biroi extracts and leads us to isolate active compounds for antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-acne. We used methanol to obtain the extract from this propolis and assayed it with antioxidants, anti-inflammation, and anti -acne. The extract showed strong activity in antioxidants by DPPH radical scavenging activity (82.31% in 6.25 mu g/ml). Via a column chromatography and Reveleris PREP purification system, we isolated 3'-O-methyldiplacone, nymphaeol A, and 5,7,3 ',4 '-tetrahydroxy-6-geranyl flavonol. These compounds showed potential biological activity with IC50 for antioxidant 6.33, 15.49, 17.32 mu M; and antiinflammatory 121.54, 121.20, 117.31 mu M. The isolated compounds showed anti-acne properties with properties 0.00, 14.11, and 13.78 mm for the inhibition zone (at a concentration of 1 mu g/well), respectively. The results indicated that the propolis extract of Tetragonula biroi has the potential to be developed as a cosmetic agent; however, further work needs to be done to clarify its application.