The Potential of Honeybee Products for Biomaterial Applications

Abstract

The development of biomaterials required continuous improvements in their properties for new tissue engineering applications. Implants based on biocompatible materials and biomaterial-based dressings are susceptible to infection threat; moreover, target tissues can suffer injuring inflammation. The inclusion of nature-derived bioactive compounds usually offers a suitable strategy to expand or increase the functional properties of biomaterial scaffolds and can even promote tissue healing. Honey is traditionally known for its healing property and is a mixture of phytochemicals that have a proven reputation as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant agents. This review discusses on the potential of honey and other honeybee products for biomaterial improvements. Our study illustrates the available and most recent literature reporting the use of these natural products combined with different polymeric scaffolds, to provide original insights in wound healing and other tissue regenerative approaches.

Keywords: antimicrobials; bio-inspired material; biomaterials; honey; propolis; tissue engineering.

Figure 1

Overview of the advantages of using honeybee products in tissue engineering. Honeybee products, such as honey, propolis, and royal jelly, differ according to the botanical source and the geographical origin. Importantly, they share bioactive compounds with significant antimicrobial, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory effects, suitable for modifying functional properties of biomaterials. These features can be transferred to a scaffold for biomedical application in order to adapt its mechanical properties, to avoid its rapid degradation, bacterial infection, and cell toxicity, and to allow a local delivery. The application or the transplantation in the body of the scaffold functionalized by honeybee products can favor the healing and the repair of injured tissues, by indirectly modulating the inflammatory response.