Apitoxin, also known as bee venom (BV), is produced in two specialized
abdominal glands of worker bees and is used as a defence
weapon of bees’ colony (Choi et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2016). In addition,
this natural product has been used since the ancient times to
relieve pain and to treat chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid
arthritis, tendinitis, bursitis, skin conditions and even neurologic
disorders (Moreno and Giralt, 2015).
This natural product is a light-yellow liquid, characterized by a bitter
taste, pungent smell and a pH ranging from 4.5 to 5.5 (Eze et al., 2016;
Hossen et al., 2017). Some studies have described that 88% of BV is
water, yet its specific composition varies depending on bee’ species and
season (Moreno and Giralt, 2015). Indeed, BV has been reported to
contain a complex of biologically active compounds among which enzymes
(phospholipase A2 [PLA2], lysophospholipase, hyaluronidase, acid
phosphomonoesterase; α-glucosidase, dipeptidyl peptidase IV and vitellogenin),
peptides (melittin [MLT], apamin, mast cell degranulating
[MCD], mastocytolytic peptide, scapin, adolapin, minimine; apidaecin;
tertiapin; melittin F; cadiopep; procamine A, B, pamine, and proteaseinhibitors),
biogenic amines (histamine, dopamine, noradrenaline, norepinephrine,
neurotransmitters) and other compounds such as amino
acids (γ-aminobutyric acid, α-amino acids), carbohydrates (glucose,
fructose), pheromones (Iso-pentyl acetate, n-buttyl acetate, iso-pentanol,
n-hexyl acetate, n-octyl acetate, 2-nonanol, n-decyl acetate, benzyl
acetate, benzyl alcohol and (2)-11 –eicosen-1-ol) and minerals (P, Ca and
Mg) (Nguyen et al., 2015; Tusiimire et al., 2015; Rady et al., 2017; Moga
et al., 2018; Lee et al., 2018). Among these compounds, MLT is the main
therapeutic ingredient of BV, representing between 40 and 60% of the
dry weight (Abd-Elhakim et al., 2014).
