Osition and biological activities. Within the 60s, it was thought that, despite its complexity, propolis chemical composition was a lot more or less constant. Nevertheless, within the following years, analysis of a large variety of samples from unique geographic origins revealed that chemical composition of propolis is highly variable as well as tough to standardize simply because it will depend on factors which include the vegetation, season, and environmental situations in the website of collection [6, 8, 9]. Marcucci [7] and Bankova et al. [10] registered more than 300 substances in propolis and recent reports showed the presence of compounds by no means described before [12, 17, 20, 21]. Commonly, the principle constituents of propolis are resin and volatiles, that are substances obtained from several different botanical processes in different parts of plants, and beeswax, secreted by the bees [9]. Standard compounds are summarized in Table 1. As is often MedChemExpress Taselisib observed, plant sources vary among the diverse components from the globe, top to panoply of compounds. In a critique on propolis standardization, unique resin kinds had been proposed: poplar propolis, birch, green, red, “Pacific,” and “Canarian” [9, 12]. Samples of poplar propolis (e.g., from Europe, North America, New Zealand, and temperate zones of Asia) are primarily composed of flavonoids, phenolic acids, and their esters [10, 20, 22], clearly distinct from other propolis varieties (Table 1). Portuguese propolis, despite similar to the ones located in European samples, also contains new methylated, esterified, and hydroxylated derivatives of flavonoids and pinocembrin/pinobanksin derivatives containing a phenylpropanoic acid derivative moiety in their structure [20, 21]. Our group recently showed that propolis from Pereiro (district of Guarda, Beira Alta) (Figure 1) features a high concentration of phenolic elements [23]. Poplar-type propolis is undoubtedly probably the most studied one particular but there are many other propolis forms. fnins.2014.00058 Current studies have revealed a new variety of European propolis: Mediterranean propolis. This type of propolis is distinguished by the high2. Use of Propolis in Ancient and Present TimesPropolis is just not a brand new discovery. Because bee’s domestication, males explore its products to their very own advantage and propolis, on the list of most significant chemical weapons of bees, is no exception, having been employed extensively given that nearly immemorial times [6, 13, 15?7]. It can be stated that propolis use dates back to ancient times, at the very least to 300 BC, where it was applied in folk medicine along with other activities in many components of the planet [16]. It was familiar for the Egyptians, in particular by the priests who controlled medicine and chemistry and knew really effectively propolis antiputrefactive properties. They learned in the bees the embalming capacity of propolis as this organic item is employed to execute the mummification 164027512453468 of corpses and protect against spread of infections. The Greek as well as the Roman physicians also acknowledged the prospective of propolis by employing it in wound treatment, as an antiseptic and cicatrizing agent, and as mouth disinfectant. The Persians described propolis as a drug capable of acting against eczemas, myalgia, and rheumatism. Populations from the new world, like Incas, also utilised propolis as an antipyretic agent. Amongst the 17th and 20th century, this organic solution became pretty well-liked in Europe.