Extract Standardization and Acute Toxicity Study of Propolis Extract Towards Mice as Potential Covid-19 Treatment Agent

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease which has become an emerging global health crisis. However, there is still less of the natural bioactive compound used for curing COVID-19. Flavonoid is a natural product that has a specific effect in treating viral infection. Flavonoid also can be used to treat COVID-19 due to its specific mechanism to inhibit the activity of 3C-like protease of SARS-CoV-2 which is essential for viral replication. Propolis or bee glue, which contains a high flavonoids product, is a natural product produced by bees as a result of a mixture of several compounds such as buds, exudates, and plants. However, there is a need to ensure the safety level of propolis before being used for medicinal purposes. This study is aimed to examine the standardization of propolis extract and to determine the safety dose of propolis extract towards mice by conducting an acute toxicity study. The standardization of propolis extract was done following the standard by Indonesian Food and Drug Administration, while the in vivo acute toxicity study was performed following The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development guidelines. Thus, the result showed that Propolis extract fulfilled the standardization criteria and the acceptance dose of propolis extract towards mice is 300 mg/kg BW which is included in category 4 of Globally Harmonized System classification.