Brazilian propolis protects Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells against oxidative stress

• Main Authors: Rafael A. de Sá, Frederico A.V. de Castro, Elis C.A. Eleutherio, Raquel M. de Souza, Joaquim F.M. da Silva, Marcos D. Pereira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Microbiologia 2013-09-01
• Series: Brazilian Journal of Microbiology
• Subjects: propolis; antioxidant; oxidative stress; Saccharomyces cerevisiae
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1517-83822013000300051&lng=en&tlng=en

Propolis is a natural product widely used for humans. Due to its complex composition, a number of applications (antimicrobial, antiinflammatory, anesthetic, cytostatic and antioxidant) have been attributed to this substance. Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a eukaryotic model we investigated the mechanisms underlying the antioxidant effect of propolis from Guarapari against oxidative stress. Submitting a wild type (BY4741) and antioxidant deficient strains (ctt1∆, sod1∆, gsh1∆, gtt1∆ and gtt2∆) either to 15 mM menadione or to 2 mM hydrogen peroxide during 60 min, we observed that all strains, except the mutant sod1∆, acquired tolerance when previously treated with 25 µg/mL of alcoholic propolis extract. Such a treatment reduced the levels of ROS generation and of lipid peroxidation, after oxidative stress. The increase in Cu/Zn-Sod activity by propolis suggests that the protection might be acting synergistically with Cu/Zn-Sod.