The wound-healing capacity of ointments based on bee products was investigated in vivo on three experimental models of incision, excision and heat burn. For this purpose, four ointments were prepared with propolis, honey, apilarnil (drone brood homogenate) and a mixture of these three apitherapy products. The ointments were applied topically for 21 days. Clinical and macroscopic evaluation was performed throughout the experiment, with the recording of the re-epithelialization period and determination of the wound contraction rate on days 6 and 9. The histopathological examination was performed on days 1, 3, 12 and 21 of the treatment. The topical formulations were also characterized from a rheological point of view in order to verify their stability. HPLC analysis of propolis revealed the presence of phenolic compounds, particularly ferulic acid and p-coumaric which were found in high amounts. All ointments had beneficial effects on wound contraction and the re-epithelialization period, but the most significant result, both macroscopically and especially in terms of histological architecture, was presented by the ointment that contains all three apitherapy products, due to their synergistic effect.
Keywords: apilarnil; bee products; honey; propolis; rheological characterization; wound healing.