Antibacterial activity of honeys from Amazonian stingless bees ofMeliponaspp. and its effects on bacterial cell morphology

BACKGROUND Stingless bee honey has great therapeutic potential, especially as an antimicrobial agent. In the present study, we evaluated thein vitroantibacterial potential of honey fromMeliponaspp. with occurrence in Rio Branco-AC and Xapuri-AC from the Amazonian region. Samples were collected from the speciesMelipona eburnea,Melipona grandis,Melipona flavolineataandMelipona seminigra. The antibacterial activity of the honey samples was tested against standard Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and two strains isolated from bovine mastitis. RESULTS In the agar diffusion assay, we observed antibacterial activity for the four honeys against the tested strains. The honey fromM. flavolineatashowed a minimmum inhibitory concentration (MIC) lower than 3.12% (v/v). The minimum bactericidal concentration values were larger than the MIC for most of the microorganisms tested. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed the damaging effect of the honey ofM. flavolineataonStaphylococcus aureuscells, as well as its inhibitory effect on cell division. CONCLUSION The results of the present study demonstrate that the honey from stingless bees possessesin vitroantimicrobial activity against pathogenic bacteria. The effects observed by SEM show that honey from the Amazonian stingless beeM. flavolineatahas promising therapeutic potential as a future antimicrobial agent. (c) 2020 Society of Chemical Industry

Automated summary

The study shows that stingless bee honey has in vitro antimicrobial activity against pathogenic bacteria. Honey from Melipona flavolineata has a damaging effect on Staphylococcus aureus cells and inhibits cell division.