Chemical profiling and antioxidant activity of Malaysian stingless bee propolis from ten different locations

Propolis is a sticky material manufactured by stingless bees to build and protect their hive. This material is known to be a rich source of biologically active constituents. Chemical composition that is attribute to its biological activities is highly dependent on plant sources and geographical origin. Chemical profiling was performed on Malaysian stingless bee (Heterotrigona itama) propolis samples collected from ten localities in two Malaysian states of Kelantan and Terengganu. High performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) was employed in chemical profiling. Antioxidant activity, total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) were also evaluated. Phytochemical profiling showed that all localities have different chemical composition in terms of number of bands and intensity of the bands, indicating the variation of chemical composition. Antioxidant activity varied significantly between the localities with sample of Besut, Terengganu (BST-1) possess the highest DPPH radical inhibition (88.86 mu g/mL) with IC50 of 11 mu g/mL. Likewise, all samples has varied total phenolic and total flavonoid content ranged from 15.89 - 115.98 mg GAE/g and 15.84 - 48.65 mg QE/g, respectively. BST-1 has the highest content of both group of compounds. Findings from this study show that Malaysian stingless bee propolis has great chemical diversity and can potentially be the source for important biological activity including antioxidant agent. This study also revealed that geographical origin play a significant role in quality of propolis.