CNPq financially supported this research through the CNPQ/MCTI/SEMPI No. 021/2021
process on RHAE modality, contract number 424727/2021-8. It was also supported by São Paulo
Research Foundation (FAPESP) grant #2017/04138-8, CNPq (grant 309614/2021-0; INCT-INFO),
CNPq grants 350088/2022-5 and 350089/2022-1, São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) (grant
no. 2013/07276-1). The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT,
Portugal) for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020 and
UIDP/00690/2020) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2021). Thanks to the project GreenHealth, Norte-01-
0145-FEDER-000042.
The demand for organic and functional food continues to increase yearly. Among the
available functional foods, propolis is a bee product that has various beneficial properties, including
antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities. However, it generally is only available in
ethanol solution, which has poor bioavailability, as it is relatively insoluble in water. The use of such
ethanol extracts is often objectionable because of the alcohol content and because they have a strong
and striking taste. Development of alternatives that can efficiently and safely increase solubility
in water, and that meet organic production specifications, has been a challenge. To address these
concerns, microcapsules were developed using spray-dryer technology from an emulsion based on
EPP-AF® propolis and gum arabic (i-CAPS). These propolis-loaded microcapsules were characterized
using FT-IR, SEM, TGA, HPLC, and spectrophotometric techniques, along with determination of
antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, and antihypercholesterolemic activities,
as well as permeability in in vitro models. The production system resulted in microcapsules with a
spherical shape and an encapsulation efficiency of 93.7 0.7%. They had IC50s of 2.654 0.062 and
7.342 0.058 g/mL by FRAP and DPPH antioxidant methods, respectively. The EPP-AF® i-CAPS
also had superior antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria. Antitumor activity was
calculated based on the concentration that inhibited 50% of growth of AGS, Caco-2, and MCF-7 cell
strains, giving results of 154.0 1.0, 117 1.0, and 271.0 25 g/mL, respectively. The microcapsule
presentation reduced the permeation of cholesterol by 53.7%, demonstrating antihypercholesterolemic
activity, and it improved the permeability of p-coumaric acid and artepillin C. The IC50 for NO
production in RAW264.7 cells was 59.0 0.1 g/mL. These findings demonstrate the potential of
this new propolis product as a food and pharmaceutical ingredient, though additional studies are
recommended to validate the safety of proposed dosages.
