Propolis is a natural product that has been widely utilized as medicine and dietary supplement because of its broad biological activities. However, although meliponide hive products have many advantages, meliponiculture has not yet become popular in Argentina, and few scientific studies on its chemical composition and/or its bioactive properties were reported, so the use of stingless bee propolis Argentine in popular medicine continues to be based on empirical knowledge. Our work aims to evaluate in vivo anti-inflammatory, antitussive and expectorant activities, and acute toxicity of the Argentine geopropolis ethanol extracts of two stingless bee’s species, Scaptotrigona jujuyensis Schrottky and Tetragonisca fiebrigi Schwarz. Wistar male rats were used for all in vivo studies. Anti-inflammatory activities were evaluated through carrageenan-induced edema and cotton pellet-induced granuloma formation. Antitussive activity was assessed against ammonia-induced cough. Expectorant activity was measured by volume of phenol red in the rats’ tracheas. The extract doses tested were 125, 250, 500, and 1000 mg/kg (p.o.). The safety was evaluated with test of acute toxicity (48 h). The results showed that S. jujuyensis and T. fiebrigi propolis (1000 mg/kg) significantly reduced the carrageenan-induced edema and cotton pellet-induced granuloma formation 3 h post-dosing. In the ammonia liquor-induced cough, both propolis significantly enhanced the latent period and reduced cough frequency as compared with those of the negative control. However, they did not increase the expulsion of red phenol in the treated rats. This study shows that ethanol extracts of S. jujuyensis and T. fiebrigi propolis have anti-inflammatory and antitussive effects. These findings would justify the use of geopropolis in medicine as a potential phytotherapeutic product.

中文翻译：

---

阿根廷无刺蜂土蜂胶药理特性的体内评价

蜂胶是一种天然产物，因其广泛的生物活性而被广泛用作药物和膳食补充剂。然而，尽管蜂王浆产品具有诸多优势，但蜂蜂养殖在阿根廷尚未普及，对其化学成分和/或生物活性特性的科学研究鲜有报道，因此阿根廷无刺蜂蜂胶在大众医学中的应用仍是基于经验知识。我们的工作旨在评估两种无刺蜜蜂物种 Scaptotrigona jujuyensis Schrottky 和 ​​Tetragonisca fiebrigi Schwarz 的阿根廷土蜂胶乙醇提取物的体内抗炎、镇咳和祛痰活性以及急性毒性。Wistar 雄性大鼠用于所有体内研究。通过角叉菜胶诱导的水肿和棉球诱导的肉芽肿形成评估抗炎活性。对氨引起的咳嗽评估镇咳活性。通过大鼠气管中酚红的体积测量祛痰活性。测试的提取物剂量为 125、250、500 和 1000 mg/kg (po)。安全性通过急性毒性试验（48 h）进行评估。结果表明，在给药后 3 小时，S. jujuyensis 和 T. fiebrigigi 蜂胶 (1000 mg/kg) 显着减少了角叉菜胶引起的水肿和棉球引起的肉芽肿形成。在氨水引起的咳嗽中，与阴性对照相比，两种蜂胶都显着延长了潜伏期并降低了咳嗽频率。然而，它们并没有增加接受治疗的大鼠中红酚的排出。本研究表明，S. jujuyensis 和 T. fiebrigi 蜂胶的乙醇提取物具有抗炎和镇咳作用。这些发现将证明在医学中使用土蜂胶作为潜在的植物治疗产品是合理的。