• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.60 no.2
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• pp.53-57
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• 2016

This study was performed to examine the skin phototoxicity of purified bee venom (Apis mellifera L.) collected using bee venom collector. To confirm whether the gel containing purified bee venom (BV gel) causes photototoxicity when used for the skin medicinal products, phototoxicity testing was conducted using guinea pig models. The BV gel (0.1 ml/site) was administered transdermally to guinea pigs. 8-MOP was used to introduce positive control response. After administration, the guinea pigs were irradiated with UVA ($15J/cm^2$) with doses based on standard phototoxicity study guidelines. In the weight measurement and clinical observation, BV gel groups didn't show any significant changes compared with control group. BV gel groups did not show any symptoms such as erythema and edema formation of skin. This study demonstrated that BV gel has promising potential external treatment for topical uses that do not induce significant levels of skin phototoxicity.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.253-258
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• 2016

This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of honey bee (Apis mellifera) disease in Daejeon. From May to September in 2014, 63 samples were collected from 63 apiculture farms in the regions and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was conducted. A total of 11 infectious pathogens, including 6 virus, 2 bacteria, 2 fungi, and 1 parasite, were investigated in honeybee colonies suffering from symptom of sudden collapse, depopulation or paralysis. The infectious pathogens and infection rates among 63 honeybee colonies detected were as follows: sacbrood virus (12.7%), chronic bee paralysis virus (1.6%), stonebrood (11.1%), American foulbrood (19.0%), European foulbrood (6.3%), respectively. The result indicate that foul-brood was most prevalent disease in apiculture farms in Daejeon area.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.171-177
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• 2018

Purified bee venom was collected from colonies of honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) using a bee venom collector under sterile conditions and then purified under strict laboratory conditions. Purified bee venom contained $63.9{\pm}5.4%$ melittin, $10.9{\pm}1.6%$ phospholipase A2, and $2.3{\pm}0.3%$ apamin. Purified bee venom has various anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and immunostimulating effects. In this study, we evaluated purified bee venom which are mammary gland cells, MAC-T cells are used to increase the synthesis of milk protein. Purified bee venom promoted the proliferation of MAC-T cells at concentrations below $1{\mu}g/mL$, but cytotoxicity at $10{\mu}g/mL$ and above. As a result of the increase in the synthesis of ${\beta}-casein$, a milk protein after treatment with MAC-T cells at a concentration of the bee venom without cytotoxicity, the ${\beta}-casein$ content in the cell culture was increased when treated at a concentration of 1 ng/mL or more. In addition, it was confirmed that purified bee venom significantly increased the expression of bovine ${\beta}-casein$ (bCSNB) mRNA, a ${\beta}-casein$ synthesis gene, at a concentration of 1 ng/mL or more. These results suggest that purified bee venom can be used to increase the production of livestock by ultimately increasing the expression of milk protein.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.109-116
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• 2018

We investigated the effects of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colony size on the pollination of greenhouse-cultivated watermelon grown under the forcing cultivation system. The highest pollination activity of bees was observed ($14.3{\pm}5.0$ honey bees/day) when the bee colony size was 10,000 followed by 7,500 and 5,000 honey bees. There was a positive correlation between the bee colony size and pollination activity (R = 0.262) but insignificant difference in fruit set with different honey bee colony sizes (88%-91%). Evaluation of physical properties revealed that the weight and shape of watermelon were also not significantly different among different colony sizes. However, larger the bee colony size, higher the number of seeds were fertilized and rate of seed fertilization (p > 0.05). Number of seeds and content of sugar were negatively correlated (R = -0.714). Fertilized seeds showed a significant increase in mealy flesh, which has a negative effect on fruit quality, compared with that of the unfertilized seeds. Overall, we found that a colony size of 5,000 honey bees was the most effective for the pollination of watermelon grown under forcing cultivation. A comparison of the effects of bee pollination with those of artificial pollination suggested that artificial pollination can be effectively replaced by bee pollination in the forcing cultivation of watermelon, because fruit set, weight, and shape by bee pollination were similar to those achieved by artificial pollination.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.397-403
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• 1999

This study was designed to examine the clincotherapeutic effect of natural honeybee (Apis mellifera) venom in sows with mastitis, metritis and agalactia (MMA) syndrome. Sows with MMA syndrome after parturition were assigned to treated and nontreated control groups. In treated group, 22 sows were bee acupunctured once a day for 3 consecutive days. Acupuncture points of Jiao-chao (GV-1, at the indentation between the base of tail and the anus), Yang-ming (ST-18, outside at the base of teat) and Hai-men (ST-25, about 1 cm lateral to the umbilicus) were stung by the natural honeybees. In control group, 20 sows were intramuscularly injected with a standard dosage of penicillin G (400,000 IU/kg of body weight) once a day for 3 consecutive days. At post-treatment, 85.0% of control sows and 90.9% of sows in treated group recovered from MMA syndrome. Bee acupuncture therapy didn't show any side effects such as allergy, intoxication, hemorrhage, or infection. It might be concluded that apitherapy was effective in controlling of sows with MMA syndrome.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.155-162
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• 1999

This study was performed to assess that clinco-therapeutic effect of natural Italian honeybee (Apis mellifera) venom in adjuvant-induced arthritic rat. Ninety Sprague- Dawley rats of male were injected with complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). Adjuvant arthritis was produced by a single subcutaneous injection of 1 mg Mycobacterium butyricum suspended in 0.1 ml paraffin oil into the right hindpaw. Righting reflex was uniformly lost and considered to be the point of arthritis development on day 14 after CFA injection. Experimental groups were divided into three groups. When arthritis was developed in the rat hind-paw, tested groups were administrated with prednisolone (10 mg/kg, p.o) and honeybee venom (one bee, s.c) at an interval of two days. Control group was subcutaneously injected with 0.1 ml of physiological saline solution in the rat at an interval of two days. Clinical findings, hematological values and histopathological findings were observed during or after the drugs administration. In tested groups, the development of inflammatory edema and polyarthritis on day 14 after treatment was suppressed. No significant differences of hindpaw edema volume and lameness score between prednisolone and honeybee venom groups were observed during or after therapeutic drugs treatment. WBC counts of prednisolone and honeybee venom treatment groups as compared with the control group were getting remarkably decreased during or after the therapeutic drugs administration(p＜0.01). Erosions of articular cartilage and inflammatory cell infiltrations during or after the therapeutic drugs treatment was effectively suppressed in natural honey venom.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.228-233
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• 2017

The aim of the current study was to examine genotoxicological safety of purified bee venom (Apis mellifera L.) The bacterial reverse mutation in Salmonella typhimurium (TA100, TA1535, TA98, and TA1537) and Escherichia coli (WP2 uvrA) were evaluated with purified bee venom at concentrations of 0, 1.5, 5, 15, 50, 150, and $500{\mu}g/plate$. Purified bee venom was negative in Ames test with both in the presence and absence of rat liver microsomal enzyme. According to these results, we concluded that purified bee venom did not cause bacterial reverse mutation. The safety of the purified bee venom at practical doses needs to be further evaluated in in vivo genotoxicity assays.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.154-160
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• 2022

Background: The mango is one of the essential fruit trees for the economy of Thailand. Mango pollination relies primarily on insects. Other external forces, such as wind, are less efficient since pollen is sticky and aggregating. There is only one report from Thailand on the use of bees as mango pollinators. The study of the behavior and pollination efficiency of honey bees (Apis mellifera) and stingless bees (Tetragonula laeviceps species complex) was conducted in Nam Dokmai mango plantings in Phrao and Mae Taeng districts, Chiang Mai province, between February and March 2019. Results: Our results reveal that the honey bees commenced foraging earlier than the stingless bee. The number of flowers visited within 1 minute by honey bees was higher than that visited by stingless bees. The average numbers of honey bees and stingless bees that flew out of the hive per minute from 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. in the Phrao district were 4.21 ± 1.62 and 9.88 ± 7.63 bees/min, respectively, i.e., higher than those observed in Mae Taeng, which were 3.46 ± 1.13 and 1.23 ± 1.20 bees/min, respectively. The numbers of fruits per tree were significantly higher in the honey bee and stingless bee treatments (T1 and T2) than in the open pollination treatment (T3). The number of fruits between T1 and T2 treatments was not different. In the pollinator exclusion treatment (T4), no fruit was produced. Fruit size factors were not significantly different among T1, T2, and T3 treatments. Conclusions: Our results showed that insect pollination is crucial for mango production, especially with the Nam Dokmai variety in Northern Thailand. As pollinator exclusion treatment showed no fruit set, and pollinator treatment significantly increased the fruit sets compared to open access plots, a managed pollinator program would benefit the mango growers for better productivity. Both the honey bee and the stingless bee were shown to be effective as pollinators.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.177-183
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• 2010

This study was conducted to investigate the antibiotic effects of bee venom (Apis mellifera) on the growth performance and blood characteristics in broiler chicken. 1-day-old broiler chicks were randomly divided into 3 groups with 3 replicates of 5,000 birds each. The treatments were control without antibiotic and bee venom, 0.5ppm or 1ppm bee venom. The final body weight and body weight gain were significantly higher in bee venom than control (P<0.05). The feed conversion ratio in all treated groups were significantly improved as compared to that of control (P<0.05). No significant differences among the groups were observed in the contents of total cholesterol, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total protein, albumin and globulin in blood serum. The white blood cell, red blood cell, heterophil, lymphocyte, and stress indicator (heterophil:lymphocyte rate) were not significantly different among the groups. The superoxide dismutase-like activities in the groups that were water containing bee venom were significantly increased compared to those in the control group (P<0.05). It has been suggested that bee venom promotes the growth of broilers without any negative effect when added in broiler water.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.383-388
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• 2003

Bee venom is used as a traditional medicine for treatment of arthritis. The anti-inflammatory activity of the n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and aqueous partitions from bee venom (Apis mellifera) was studied using cyclooxygenase (COX) activity and pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-$\alpha and IL-1\beta$) production, in vitro. COX-2 is involved in the production of prostaglandins that mediate pain and support the inflammatory process. The aqueous partition of bee venom showed strong dose-dependent inhibitory effects on COX-2 activity ($IC_{50} = 13.1 \mu$ g/mL), but did not inhibit COX-1 activity. The aqueous partition was subfractionated into three parts by molecular weight differences, namely, B-F1 (above 20 KDa), B-F2 (between 10 KDa and 20 KDa) and BF-3 (below 10 KDa). B-F2 and B-F3 strongly inhibited COX-2 activity and COX-2 mRNA expression in a dose-dependent manner, without revealing cytotoxic effects. TNF-$\alpha and IL-1\beta$ are potent pro-inflammatory cytokines and are early indicators of the inflammatory process. We also investigated the effects of three subfractions on TNF-$\alpha and IL-1\beta$ production using ELISA method. All three subfractions, B-F1, B-F2 and B-F3, inhibited TNF-$\alpha and IL-1\beta$production. These results suggest the pharmacological activities of bee venom on anti-inflammatory process include the inhibition of COX-2 expression and the blocking of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-$\alpha and IL-1\beta$) production.