User:Martine1031/Apitherapy

= Apitherapy =

History
Before bee products were used for its medicinal properties, humans have historically used bee products in various ways: beeswax was used in casting metals and making incendiary weapons, honey was used for food and religious offerings, propolis was used as an adhesive, and pollen was used for agricultural work such as plant breeding. The use of bee products in medicine was recorded in ancient writing, appearing in religious books such as the Bible and the Quran. They were also mentioned in writings from authors such as Hesiod in 800 BC, Aristophanes from 450-388 BC, Varro from 166-27 BC, and Columella in 1st century AD. From these writings, apitherapy is known to have been practiced in ancient Greece, Egypt, Rome, and China. The earliest recorded medical prescription to include honey was from Sumer in Mesopotamia in about 2000 BC for it to be used externally alone with oil, water, and other ingredients. When it was used internally, honey was recommended to be used because of their healing properties, to bind a remedy, or to add to medicine for a more pleasant taste In traditional Chinese medicine, it was also recorded in the ancient prescription book from the Hunan Province that two of the fifty-two prescriptions involved bees, one of them recommending honey to treat diseases. Much later, there was an attempt to use bee venom clinically via injection by J. Langer at the University of Prague in late 1890s and in 1930, a firm in south Germany named Mack produced bee venom solution commercially. Now, apitherapy is still prevalent in traditional medicine and is used in countries in Europe, Asia, and South America including China, Korea, and Russia. Evidence-based researchers are currently studying the biological benefits of apitherapy in the use of cancer prevention, the treatment of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and other inflammatory issues.

Honey
Across various studies in clinical research, honey has been examined for its anti-antioxidant, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor effects. Its composition depends on the geographical region where it was sourced, but generally consists of the following components: 75% monosaccharide sugars such as glucose and fructose, 10-15% disaccharide sugars such as sucrose and maltose, and a miscellaneous mixture of enzymes, minerals, vitamins, amino acids, flavonoids, and phenolic compounds. Undiluted honey is also acidic with a pH that falls between 3.2 and 4.5. This contributes to its antibacterial properties because of its inhibition against the growth of animal pathogens whose development requires much higher pH’s between 7.2 and 7.4. For this reason, honey is used as a topical application to open wounds because of its ability to host a clean environment that controls infections, disinfects burn wounds, and encourage healing.

Particularly, honey has been targeted as a potential agent for cancer prevention and treatment in recent studies. Ongoing cancer research continuously looks at natural products whose properties may be beneficial to combating the growth of cancer to accompany the existing knowledge on cancer drugs and honey is one of them. Recent research has found that honey can have anti-tumor effects and developments were made after being studied in cancer tissues of various cancers such as colorectal, renal, lung, skin, prostate, and cervical cancer. Studies have suggested that honey can prevent the rapid spread and growth of cancerous cells by enhancing chemotherapeutic drugs such as paclitaxel because of its ability to induce apoptosis, which is the death of unwanted and damaged cells, reduce oxidative stress, and protect cells against cytotoxicity. Honey has also been shown to play an anti-inflammatory role on immune cells by preventing chronic inflammation and improving the immune system. This is beneficial for inhibiting the growth of cancer since chronic inflammation prevents the healing of damaged tissues and honey can protect these immune cells against the inflammatory process. These studies were executed in in vitro and in vivo studies across various cancer types; however, research is still ongoing to examine the mechanisms behind honey and its potential for its applications toward cancer.

Propolis and Royal Jelly
Propolis is a resinous substance that is produced by bees when mixing resin with bee saliva, wax, and pollen. It repairs and sanitizes beehives by sealing cracks, maintaining a suitable temperature, and preventing the decay of dead pests that might get into the hives such as mice. Chemically, it is composed of various vitamins, amino acids, micronutrients, flavonoids, phenolic aldehydes, and terpenoids. Its phenolic and flavonoid components contribute to propolis’s immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral effects. It has been used to promote wound healing and treat disease conditions such as pulp problems, genital herpes, oral candidiasis, and was even approved by the China Food and Drug Administration to use as a treatment towards ischemic stroke.

Royal jelly is an acidic and creamy substance that is excreted by worker bees from their pharyngeal gland. It consists of water, proteins, carbohydrates, phenols, vitamins, minerals, and other compounds. It has shown potential as an anti-aging compound by reviving cellular processes like cellular metabolism and protein translation, but it is also antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, and antimicrobial. It has been studied in various research for conditions such as cancer, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Additionally, it has been used for patients with childhood malignancies like leukemia, lymphoma, and other tumors because it can increase the appetite, encourage better and normal organ functions, and prevent infections that may arise during chemo- and radio- therapy.

Particularly against neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, royal jelly and propolis both have shown potential in its ability to reduce oxidative stress and protect against neuroinflammation. Studies in animal models of mice showed that these products are able to protect neurons against the damaging processes of Parkinson’s, adjust the abnormal levels of dopamine to become more stable, and maintain the brain structure by making the cerebral cortex more intact. All of these effects suggest that it can improve the motor, cognitive, and mood symptoms of Parkinson’s.

Bee Venom
Bee venom is administered into the human body in apitherapy by injecting a dose of bee venom or by manually placing bees onto the skin to encourage stinging. Bee venom is produced by female worker bees and its composition consists of peptides like melittin and apamin, enzymes such as phospholipase A2 (PLA2) and hyaluronidase, and amino acids. Very low doses of bee venom in clinical studies using animal models have shown to be anti-cancer and antiviral, particularly against ovarian and prostate cancer and HIV. It slows the growth of tumors by having a cytotoxic effect on cancer cells and inhibits the metastatic activity. Bee venom has also been shown to have an anti-inflammatory role by protecting against chronic inflammation which is linked to diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, obesity, and Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. It does this by preventing signaling pathways in the immune system that would encourage inflammation. By decreasing the signaling pathways, it lessens inflammation in the skin, liver, and joint tissues. In Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease, bee venom’s anti-inflammatory properties can help protect neurons and therefore improve cognitive functioning.