VALORIZATION OF PROPOLIS EXTRACTS AS BIOACTIVE COMPONENTS IN ELECTROSPUN SCAFFOLDS

Electrospinning is a versatile technique for producing nonwoven nano- and micro-fibers with an architecture that closely resembles the extracellular matrix (ECM), making it widely used in biomedical fields such as tissue regeneration and drug delivery applications.[1] By carefully tailoring the chemical composition of fibers, it is possible to modulate the interaction between the material and the biological system, as well as the release of therapeutic agents. In this context, encapsulating complex natural products offers a strategy to harness their health benefits, owing to their antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties. Propolis is a resinous bee product with a variable chemical composition depending on geographic location and edaphic conditions. It is rich in phenolic compounds that are widely used in the biomedical field.[2,3] For this reason, ethanolic Soxhlet extracts from three different beekeeping companies in Basilicata have been thoroughly characterized, and the one with the highest total phenolic content has been blended with racemic poly-D,L-lactide (PDLLA) and gelatin, and subsequently electrospun. Gelatin has been employed to enhance both the bioactivity and the hydrophilicity of the resulting scaffolds. The latter were thoroughly characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to evaluate the influence of the components on their morphology. The preliminary findings highlight the potential of ethanolic extracts as bioactive components in electrospun scaffolds for future biomedical applications. Part of this study was carried out within the Agritech National Research Center, with funding from the European Union Next-GenerationEU (PNRR) – M4C2, INVESTIMENTO 1.4 –D.D. 1032 17/06/2022, CN00000022, CUP C33C22000250001).