Department of Medical Microbiology, Center for Infection and Immunity Amsterdam, Academic Medical Center, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
IUBMB Life. 2012 Jan;64(1):48-55. doi: 10.1002/iub.578. Epub 2011 Nov 17.
The antibacterial activity of honey has been known since the 19th century. Recently, the potent activity of honey against antibiotic-resistant bacteria has further increased the interest for application of honey, but incomplete knowledge of the antibacterial activity is a major obstacle for clinical applicability. The high sugar concentration, hydrogen peroxide, and the low pH are well-known antibacterial factors in honey and more recently, methylglyoxal and the antimicrobial peptide bee defensin-1 were identified as important antibacterial compounds in honey. The antibacterial activity of honey is highly complex due to the involvement of multiple compounds and due to the large variation in the concentrations of these compounds among honeys. The current review will elaborate on the antibacterial compounds in honey. We discuss the activity of the individual compounds, their contribution to the complex antibacterial activity of honey, a novel approach to identify additional honey antibacterial compounds, and the implications of the novel developments for standardization of honey for medical applications.
蜂蜜的抗菌活性自 19 世纪以来就为人所知。最近，蜂蜜对耐药菌的强大活性进一步增加了人们对其应用的兴趣，但对其抗菌活性的不完全了解是临床应用的主要障碍。高糖浓度、过氧化氢和低 pH 值是蜂蜜中众所周知的抗菌因素，最近还发现甲基乙二醛和抗菌肽 bee defensin-1 是蜂蜜中重要的抗菌化合物。由于涉及多种化合物，以及蜂蜜中这些化合物的浓度存在很大差异，因此蜂蜜的抗菌活性非常复杂。本综述将详细阐述蜂蜜中的抗菌化合物。我们讨论了单个化合物的活性、它们对蜂蜜复杂抗菌活性的贡献、一种新的方法来鉴定额外的蜂蜜抗菌化合物，以及这些新进展对蜂蜜在医疗应用中的标准化的意义。
