Apitherapy combination improvement of blood pressure, cardiovascular protection, and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory responses in dexamethasone model hypertensive rats

Abstract

Hypertension-induced ventricular and vascular remodeling causes myocardial infarction, heart failure, and sudden death. Most available pharmaceutical products used to treat hypertension lead to adverse effects on human health. Limited data is available on apitherapy (bee products) combinations for treatment of hypertension. This study aims to evaluate the antihypertensive effects of combinations of natural apitherapy compounds used in the medical sector to treat a variety of diseases. Rats were assigned into six groups consisting of one control group and five hypertensive groups where hypertension (blood pressure > 140/90) was induced with dexamethasone. One of these groups was used as a hypertension model, while the remaining four hypertensive groups were treated with a propolis, royal jelly, and bee venom combination (PRV) at daily oral doses of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mg/kg, and with losartan 10 mg/kg. The PRV combination at all doses decreased arterial blood pressure below the suboptimal value (p < 0.001), and PRV combination treatment improved dexamethasone-induced-ECG changes. The same treatment decreased angiotensin-II, endothelin-1, and tumor growth factor β serum levels in hypertensive rats. Additionally, PRV combination improved histopathological structure, and decreased serum levels of NF-kB and oxidative stress biomarkers. We concluded that PRV combination therapy may be used as a potential treatment for a variety of cardiovascular diseases.

Translational Research on Bee Pollen as a Source of Nutrients: A Scoping Review from Bench to Real World

“…A few interesting clinical studies evaluated the effects of BP combinations on the parameters related to metabolic and cardiovascular diseases in humans and generally reported encouraging results including disease-modifying effects in patients with atherogenic dyslipidemia (reviewed in [ 16 , 284 ]), but the pharmacological and clinical relevance of these reports remains to be investigated, since comparative studies or clinical studies of BP alone are still practically absent.…”

Can Bee Venom Be Used as Anticancer Agent in Modern Medicine?

“…BV assessed by the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay method revealed that its antioxidant activity (depending on the concentration used) is comparable to the activity of vitamin C [95]. The mixture prepared with propolis, royal jelly and BV significantly increased the antioxidative enzymes activity (superoxide dismuthase, SOD; glutathione peroxidase, GPx; and catalase, CAT) with simultaneously decrease in malondialdehyde (MDA, biomarker of unsaturated fatty acids oxidation) level in the dexamethasone model of hypertensive rats [96]. However, this study used the mixture of bee-derived compounds, not only BV, and obtained results could come from other constituents of the mixture.…”