Propolis is a resinous hive product collected by honeybees from plant sources. The composition of the propolis depends on the season, the vegetation, and the area of collection. It presents a diverse biological activities such as antimicrobial, antioxidant and antitumoral. The seasonal variability of the red propolis constituents from Pernambuco State were accomplished in the months of February, June and October of 2006. The volatile red propolis constituients were captured by the dynamic headspace technique and analyzed by GC-MS. In the analysis of the samples, 34 constituents were identified as the mono and sesquiterpens, phenylpropanoids, aldehydes, cetons and n-alcanes, presenting as majority constituents the trans-anethol, α-copaene and methyl cis-isoeugenol. The phytochemistry profile was performed by thin layer chromatography (TLC). Through this technique the majority constituents were identified as phenols. The Brine shrimp bioassay was used to evaluate of the red propolis methanolic extract, which demonstrated a DL50 of 18.9 µg/mL and an activity antitumoral was possibly suggested.
Red propolis; volatile constituents; Artemia salina
