Chemical analysis of Greek royal jelly – Its influence of the long-term administration on spatial memory in aged rats

Royal jelly (RJ) is a secretion of Apis mellifera bees, used to feed the queen bee. It possesses several pharmacological activities; therefore it has been widely used mainly as food supplement. In our study on bee-keeping products, our research project addresses the chemical profile of Greek RJ by analytical methods and classical isolation procedures and its effect of chronic RJ pre-treatment on rat performance in the Morris water maze task (WM). Through the analysis the quality of the sample was determined containing as the most abundant compounds the aliphatic acids: 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid and 10-hydroxydecanoic acid and 3,10-dihydroxydecanoic acid. Also, it is provided a behavioral analysis of the effects of RJ on WM performance in rats, indicating that its long-term oral administration (50mg/kg) improves a wide variety of behaviors while chronic pre-treatment causes cognitive and motor improvement such as: increase in the number of crossings; increase in swimming speed and prolongation of swimming distance.

Acknowledgment: The Company “Apipharm S.A.” for the kind offer of the studied royal jelly.