Bee milk

Bee milk

(abstracts of papers, 1962 academic conference of Chinese Pharmaceutical Association)

[synonym] royal jelly and milk.

[source] it is a liquid made from the milky white colloid secreted by the pharyngeal gland of worker bees such as Apis cerana cerana and honey. See "honey" for animal morphology.

[chemical composition] royal jelly, a special food for young queen bee, contains 66% moisture, 0.82% ash, 12.34% protein, 5.46% fat, 12.49% reducing substances and 2.84% unknown substances on average. Its composition varies with the growth period of larvae. Royal jelly contains five kinds of sugar, four of which are fructose, glucose, sucrose and ribose. Among the fatty acids, there is a special fatty acid, ω - hydroxy - Δ 2-decenoic acid. Royal jelly is rich in vitamins, among which the content of B1 is stable, while the content of other B vitamins can fluctuate greatly every day. First of all, B1 and B2 gradually decrease during storage, while the content of other B vitamins is still constant. When the larva develops to 72 hours, the royal jelly contains trace a. Royal jelly also contains free and bound biotin, abundant pantothenic acid, folic acid and inositol. Some people also found two substances similar to acetylcholine, namely: ① 2-amino-4-hydroxy-6 (l-red-1,2-dihydroxypropyl) - pteridine, commonly known as biopterin; ② adenine nucleoside acid analogues. There are arginine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, lysine, proline and β - alanine in Italian royal jelly. There were 14 kinds of amino acids, and the latter three kinds of amino acids were the most. Royal jelly contains fad, FMN, vitamin B1 and dog urea, the latter content is 172.21 μ g / g; the protein contains albumin, β and gamma globulin, insoluble protein. It also contains acetylcholine. The oils and fats included glycerin stearate and phospholipid.

[pharmacological action] ① strengthen the body resistance and promote growth

The results showed that royal jelly could prolong the time of death, reduce the natural mortality, prolong the duration of swimming, increase the survival rate of mice infected with Staphylococcus or Trypanosoma, and delay the fever time of rabbits caused by milk fever. If combined with ginseng, it can also reduce the mortality of mice under adverse conditions (cold, low pressure and hypoxia, fasting and water deprivation, carbon tetrachloride poisoning). It can also increase the body weight and serum albumin of rats with partial hepatectomy, and lower transaminase in serum and liver tissue than that in the control group, which indicates that the liver function is better, and the phenomenon of liver cell regeneration is vigorous in pathological examination; but it has no protective effect on carbon tetrachloride induced toxic hepatitis in mice (there is no significant difference in serum transaminase activity and oxygen consumption in liver tissue between the two groups). The rats with unilateral nephrectomy and partial nephrectomy on the other side were given royal jelly for 3-5 weeks, and the regeneration of renal tissue appeared. Royal jelly can regenerate cells, mainly by replacing aging cells with new cells, increasing tissue respiration, oxygen consumption and promoting metabolism; it can promote the regeneration of sciatic nerve (pathological section examination), faster recovery of hind limb reflex activity, lower reaction threshold than the control group, and enhance tissue metabolism process when injured nerve recovers. It can promote the development of rats and chick embryos, make the rats fed with low protein or vitamin deficiency develop well, and reduce the mortality. But it is considered that low dose royal jelly can promote the growth, while high dose royal jelly can inhibit the growth.

② Effect on endocrine

It has been reported that royal jelly can make thymus atrophy and has adrenocorticotropic hormone like effect. However, the content of vitamin in adrenal gland is increased (especially the reduction), that is, the phenomenon of tissue oxidation is enhanced; the weight of thyroid gland in young rats is increased, the protein bound iodine in plasma and thyroid gland is also significantly increased, and the iodine absorption ability of thyroid gland inhibited by methylthiouracil is enhanced. Royal jelly contains gonadotropin like substance, which makes the follicles of 21 day mice precocious, increases the number of Drosophila eggs, and increases the weight of seminal vesicles of castrated rats, but has little effect on ovariectomized rats.

③ Impact on circulation system

Royal jelly contains two kinds of acetylcholine like substances. After intravenous injection to cats and dogs, the blood pressure drops rapidly. The hypotensive curve is similar to that of acetylcholine. The hypotensive effect of 1 mg royal jelly is equivalent to 1 μ g acetylcholine. This effect can be antagonized by atropine and strengthened by physostigmine. The serum cholinesterase can be destroyed, and the pressor effect on epinephrine and ephedrine is weaker There was no effect on blood pressure of renal hypertensive dogs by subcutaneous injection of 5 mg / kg royal jelly for 2 weeks. 5-1.0 ml of 1.5-5% royal jelly was injected intravenously into the abdominal wall of frogs. The heart beat was smaller than normal at the beginning. After 2-3 minutes, the amplitude increased and the cardiac contractility increased. At last, it stopped in systole. Enema with 30 mg / kg could increase the contractile amplitude of the heart in vivo, and the effect lasted for more than two hours Epinephrine and atropine could not resist the inhibition. 1% propolis saline injected into the vein of frog abdominal wall had no effect. Apilacum, a preparation of royal jelly, can dilate the coronary blood vessels of isolated cat heart, hind limb blood vessels of cat and frog, and liver blood vessels of frog. It has obvious antihypertensive effect on cat. It is clinically used in patients with chronic coronary insufficiency.

④ Effect on hematopoietic organs

Royal jelly can reduce the mortality caused by hexamercaptopurine, prolong the life span of mice, and reduce the effect of bone marrow suppression. Oral administration or injection can increase the diameter of red blood cells and the hemoglobin of reticulocytes, and the blood iron content is significantly increased, which is due to stimulating the transport of iron. Continuous subcutaneous injection for 10 days in rats can increase red blood cells and hemoglobin, but has no effect on white blood cells Sound, and increase the number of platelets.

⑤ The effect on blood glucose

Royal jelly can reduce the blood glucose of normal rats, mice and alloxan diabetic rats. In addition, it can partially antagonize the hyperglycemic effect of adrenaline on normal mice.

⑥ Anticancer effect

Omega - hydroxy - Δ 2-decenoic acid in royal jelly can strongly inhibit the growth of transplanted AKB leukemia, 6C3HED lymphoid cancer, TA3 breast cancer and a variety of ascites type Ehrlich cancer cells. The mice with cancer can live for one year, while the control group only lives for 21 days. Oral administration or injection of Italian bee larva plasma can prolong the life of Ehrlich ascites cancer mice, and the ascites appears later and the cancer is fine There are degenerative changes in cell development.

⑦ Antibacterial action

The inhibitory effect of ω - hydroxy - Δ 2-decenoic acid on pyococcus was about 1 / 4 less than that of penicillin, on Escherichia coli was about 1 / 5 less than that of aureomycin, on Staphylococcus aureus was less than that of penicillin, and it decreased with the storage time at room temperature, and its effect on Gram-positive bacteria was twice that of resistant bacteria.

⑧ Other functions

The analgesic effect was observed in mice by intraperitoneal injection of royal jelly (hot plate method). Atropine can antagonize the contraction of isolated intestine in rabbits, rats, mice and guinea pigs. It can also cause contraction of isolated uterus in these animals, but large dose can inhibit it.

[toxicity] royal jelly has no toxicity to mice, rabbits, dogs and cats, but it contains a lot of vitamins and hormones. Overdose of royal jelly can also lead to poisoning. It can cause allergic reaction to mice and guinea pigs. If heated at 100 ℃ for 15 minutes for three times, the allergic effect will disappear.

[nature and taste] sweet and sour, flat.

Functions and indications: nourishing, strengthening, benefiting liver and spleen. Weakness after treatment, malnutrition in children, senile body failure, infectious hepatitis, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, duodenal ulcer.

[clinical application] ① treatment of acute infectious hepatitis

Oral administration of 1% royal jelly honey (mixed with royal jelly and honey), 5g under 4 years old, 10g from 5 to 10 years old, 20g above 10 years old. Once a day, twice a day, 20 days as a course of treatment, three courses of treatment. 22 cases were treated. All kinds of symptoms were obviously improved in 3-14 days, liver was significantly reduced in 3 weeks, serum transaminase was decreased by more than 40 units or returned to normal in 10 days, and other laboratory tests were significantly improved in 9-18 days. It has a good effect on the improvement of liver function. But in the course of application, it was found that the absolute number of eosinophils increased in a few cases, sinus arrhythmia (including one case with escape stroke), rash, diarrhea and other reactions.

② Treatment of chronic rheumatoid arthritis

Take 400 mg royal jelly daily for 3-6 months. Preliminary observation of 28 cases, 7 cases were significantly improved (general condition improved, joint pain significantly reduced), 3 cases were improved (general condition improved, joint pain slightly reduced), 10 cases were stable (general condition was the same as before treatment, joint pain did not improve, but no rapid attack), 8 cases were invalid. Generally, it takes effect from 3 to 4 weeks after taking, and only a few take effect from 6 to 7 weeks. There were no adverse reactions, such as dry mouth, headache, dry stool and so on, but they disappeared in a short time.

③ It is used in the treatment of neuropsychiatric diseases

16 cases of progressive muscular dystrophy were treated in neurology department, 300-600 mg per day. They were treated for half a month to more than 3 months, including 8 cases with significant progress and 1 case with mild progress. Nine patients with schizophrenia, paralytic dementia, climacteric depression, neurosis and mental retardation were treated in the Department of psychiatry. They began to take 100 mg a day and increased the dose to 800 mg a day (400 mg at most each time) after one week. The total dose was 19200 mg-30600 mg for 6-10 weeks

Chinese PinYin : Feng Ru