The Effect of Bee Honey on the Proliferative Activity of Human B-and T-Lymphocytes and the Activity of Phagocytes

The effect of bee honey (BH) taken from Apis melifica on human peripheral blood lymphocytes and neutrophils was studied using lymphocyte blastogenic 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) and quantitative nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) assays, respectively. Bee honey showed a mitogenic effect on both B- and T-lymphocytes. Stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) at 0.1% BH, B-cells showed maximum stimulatory index (0.838 0.14 relative to 0.521 0.09). Stimulated by concanavalin A (Con A) or phytohemagglutinin (PHA) in the presence of 0.2% BH, T-cells showed maximum stimulatory index of 0.820 0.12 and 0.712 0.09 compared to controls of 0.531 0.07 and 0.648 0.08, respectively. In addition, in the absence of classical mitogens, BH also stimulated B- and T-cells with stimulatory indices of 0.247 0.03 and 0.34 0.04, respectively. In the absence of LPS, maximum NBT uptake (fmol of formazan per phagocyte) by neutrophils was achieved at 0.2% BH (1.53 0.23 compared to 1.29 0.08) but no significant (p >0.05) effect of BH was found in the presence of LPS.