In vitro activity of Propolis alcoholic extract on opportunistic pathogenic fungi

Several studies have shown that Propolis has antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antiparasitic activities.
Furthermore, Propolis has been described to have therapeutic effects in some fungal infections. Our aim is to study the inhibitory effects
of alcoholic extract of Propolis on Candida and Aspergillus spp.
Material & Methods: To determine inhibitory and fungicide dose of Propolis extract, we prepared serial dilution of the extract including
1/20, 1/40, 1/80, 1/160, 1/320, and 1/640 in 1 ml of liquid medium Sabouraud dextrose broth. Given the numbers of Candida, yeasts
in 1 ml were added to the above dilution tubes. Candida and Aspergillus cultures were incubated at 30°C and 25°C, respectively, for
24-72 h.
Results: The concentration of 0.25 g/dl of Propolis extract showed an inhibitory and cidal effect on more than 50% of the clinical
isolates. But, there were no inhibition and killing at concentrations 0.0312 g/dl and 0.0625 g/dl on the Candida isolates. Our findings
showed that 0.0312 g/dl of the extract was partially active against Aspergillus fumigatus and dilution of 0.125 g/dl was active on
Aspergillus Niger. In the agar dilution method, some changes were observed in morphological features (depending on the extract
dilution) and quantitative effects of the dilution of the extract were found on the colonies.
Conclusion: We realized that the alcoholic extract of Propolis had prominent antifungal activity and inhibitory effect on Candida and
Aspergillus isolates.