ANTIMICROBIAL CREAM FORMULATION WITH BEE PROPOLIS EXTRACT AS ACTIVE INGREDIENT

摘要

Bee propolis obtained in Cordillera Administrative Region apiaries was reported to contain flavonoid aglycones (7-glucoside and 3-rutinoside). Their presence was confirmed using thin layer chromatography by comparing the Rf(retention factor) values obtained for each constituent to the official Rf values: 0.32 for 7-glucoside, 0.45 for 3-rutinoside and, 0.21 for 3-(caffeylsophoroside)-7-glucoside. The flavonoid content is responsible for its antimicrobial activity. Determination of the physicochemical properties such as specific gravity, solubility and thermal stability of the bee propolis alcoholic extract was done. The physicochemical properties of the propolis extract were determined. The specific gravity is 0.9765; soluble in ethyl alcohol and chloroform and stable to increasing temperatures. Antimicrobial activity of the bee propolis extract and the formulated cream were evaluated using bacterial and fungal test organisms obtained from UP Culture Collection (Bacillus subtilis UPCC 1295, Pseudomonas aeruginosa UPCC 1244, Staphylococcus aureus 1143, and Candida albicans UPCC 2168). The test cream was subjected to pre-clinical tests (patch test and scratch test) using rabbits as test organisms to evaluate its safety. From the results it was found that the cream is non-irritant. The formulated cream was also subjected to stability test for 6 months using temperature (2 -8 oC, 30+2 oC and 40+2 oC) and pH as the parameters of predicting the approximate shelf-life of the product. The approximate shelf-life of the product was computed to be 24 months based from the US-FDA guidelines.