Royal jelly (RJ) is a secretion of the hypopharyngeal and mandibular glands of young Apis mellifera worker bees. It is privileged for the queen bee as exclusive nourishment for her entire life. This bee hive product was used in traditional and folk medicine for human health care. Recently, there have been several research studies on RJ highlighting their therapeutic properties. It was found that it exhibits a large spectrum of biological and pharmacological potential including antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and antitumor activities among others, which might be of high importance in modern medicine for the development of new drugs. Even if RJ is known since ancient times; research papers concerning its investigation are not this much developed as compared to the other bee hive, products such as honey or propolis. In this review, we summarize our understanding of data found in literature about the chemical composition and biological properties of RJ, in particular, that which originates from Mediterranean countries to stimulate future studies. More attention should be given to this natural product for better comprehension of its mechanism of action in vitro and in vivo, for possible standardization and achievement of new formulations.

中文翻译：

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深入了解地中海蜂王浆的化学成分和生物学特性

蜂王浆 (RJ) 是年轻蜜蜂工蜂的下咽和下颌腺的分泌物。它是蜂王一生的专属营养品。这种蜂巢产品用于传统和民间医学，用于人类保健。最近，有几项关于 RJ 的研究强调了它们的治疗特性。发现它表现出广泛的生物学和药理学潜力，包括抗菌、抗氧化、抗炎、免疫调节和抗肿瘤活性等，这在现代医学中对于开发新药可能具有重要意义。就算RJ自古为人所知；与其他蜂巢、蜂蜜或蜂胶等产品相比，有关其调查的研究论文并没有那么发达。在这篇综述中，我们总结了我们对文献中关于 RJ 的化学成分和生物学特性的数据的理解，特别是那些源自地中海国家的数据，以刺激未来的研究。应该更多地关注这种天然产物，以更好地理解其体外和体内作用机制，以实现新配方的标准化和实现。