Atividade antifúngica do mel de abelha Plebeia cf. flavocincta contra Aspergillus niger.

Abstract

The bee produces various products, among which honey is considered the most important because of its nutritional and medicinal value. In recent decades due the appearance of pathogens resistant to antibiotics and the incidence of collateral effects caused by medicines, scholars have investigated the antimicrobial properties of different natural products, such as honey. In Brazil there are few studies about the honey of the stingless bee Plebeia cf. flavocincta and so this study aimed to verify the antifungal activity of the honey of this bee against Aspergillus niger come from human otitis. To that end, through the microdilution technique using microtitre plates containing 96 cavities with bottom of “U” was determined by Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of that honey. Then was determined the Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) to lower concentrations where was not visualized the fungal growth. The whole system was incubated at 28 ° C for up to 5 days. The assays were performed in triplicate and the result is expressed by the geometric mean of MIC and MFC values obtained. Performed the analysis, we obtained a MIC equal to 50% and MFC equivalent to the pure honey. It is concluded that the honey of Plebeia cf. flavocincta bee was active against the fungus A. niger, but in high concentrations, interesting fact, because it is the way many people use some type of honey popularly for the treatment of otitis, while it is clear that dilutions of this product are not effective, especially against A. niger.