What is Bee Venom?

Bee venom usually refers to a transparent liquid with aromatic odor secreted by the venom glands and accessory glands of worker bees. Worker bees have the most bee venom 2 to 3 weeks after they leave the house. Drones have no stingers and venom glands and cannot produce bee venom; queen bees have about three times the venom of worker bees, but they do not sting. One worker bee detoxification contains about 0.085 mg of dried bee venom, and it cannot be replenished after the venom is discharged.

Liquid bee venom is a colorless or slightly yellow transparent liquid with aromatic odor, slightly bitter, acrid, sour and acidic. In the air, the liquid bee venom quickly dries to 30% to 40% of the original liquid weight. The bee venom solution is easy to contaminate and deteriorate, and the components are destroyed at 100 ° C for 15 minutes, and the toxicity is completely lost at 150° C.

What we usually call bee venom is dried bee venom. Dried bee venom is loose wafer-like or needle-like in beige, milky white or light brown. It has the unique pungent aroma of bee venom, slightly fishy smell and obvious bitter taste. Dried bee venom is stable in nature. It still does not lose its biological activity under the condition of 100 ℃ within 10 days, and its effect will not be reduced by freezing. It can maintain its activity for several years under closed and dry conditions. Bee venom is easily soluble in water, glycerol and acidic solutions, but insoluble in ethanol, and has a strong neutralization effect with alkali.

How to collect Bee Venom?

There are 3 ways to collect bee venom: 1) direct stimulation method, 2) ether anesthesia method, 3) electric stimulation bee method.

At present, the third method is commonly used, because the first two methods are labor-intensive and time-consuming, the bee venom obtained is not pure enough, and it is easy to cause the death of bees.

The electric bee venom collector collects bee venom. When the bees are stimulated by the electric current, they will shrink their abdomens and discharge the bee venom. The worker bees that have been stimulated by the electric current can continue to go out to collect.

There are many styles of electric bee venom collectors, but its basic principle and structure are similar, and it consists of two parts: one part is a controller, whose function is to generate intermittent current to stimulate bees to release venom; The other part is a bee venom collector, including a grid grid made of wire, a nylon cloth under the grid, and a glass under the nylon cloth to collect bee venom. When the bee stops on the power grid, stimulated by the intermittent current generated by the controller, the sting needle penetrates the nylon cloth, except for a small part that remains on the nylon cloth, most of the bee venom is discharged to the glass plate and quickly volatilizes into Transparent crystals, which are naturally air-dried to obtain crude bee venom.

Preservation of bee venom Whether it is crude bee venom or refined bee venom, it must be sealed and packaged in non-toxic plastic bags or brown glass bottles after drying, and protected by white cloth bags or kraft paper bags. Dried bee venom can generally be stored at room temperature, in a desiccator, or refrigerated.

Bee venom is a complex mixture containing a variety of protein polypeptides, enzymes, histamines, acids, amino acids, and trace elements such as calcium, magnesium, copper, potassium, sodium sulfur, phosphorus, and chlorine. The main components of bee venom are polypeptides, accounting for 70% to 80% of the dry weight of bee venom, including melittin, melittin, MCD-peptide, etc.

In medical care, bee venom can assist in lowering blood pressure, anti-blood coagulation, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, regulating immunity, protecting radiation, inhibiting tumors, etc. It is mainly used for the treatment of neuropathic inflammation, pain and cardiovascular diseases. Bee venom products include injections, ointments, liniments, tablets, powder injections, etc. The anti-arthritic effect of bee venom is 100 times that of hydrocortisone.

In beauty, "bee venom" is added to skin care products. The melittin in bee venom can promote the blood circulation of the skin, promote the synthesis of collagen and elastin, and play a role in smoothing wrinkles and reducing skin wrinkles, become firmer and more delicate.

Bee venom is not suitable for people: children, pregnant women and elderly patients should use it with caution, and those who are mentally ill and allergic to bee venom should use it with caution.

Diseases that bee venom is not suitable for: heart, lung, kidney, liver, etc. problems, as well as bleeding diseases, menstruation, post-surgery, etc., and bee venom allergy.