A Review: Preparation of vanishing cream contains curcumin free chimical preservative with propolis as a model of novel natural preservative Download PDF

Introduction: adding preservative is necessary for the production of topical medications such as vanishing creams and also adding chemical preservative is often accompanied by different side effects. Therefore, the need to use a natural compound with preservative properties that could be a suitable and low-cost alternative for chemical preservative with no side effects is felt. Propolis is a natural compound that its pharmacologically active contents are flavonoids and flavone. It also has some of the phenolic including: cinnamic alcohol, cinnamic acid, vanillin, benzyl alcohol, benzoic acid, caffeic acid and ferulic acid and the main factor for germicidal effects of propolis is caffeic acid. Materials and methods: preparation of anti-inflammatory vanishing cream containing curcumin and propolis and investigating preservative effects of propolis is done during the four stages of preparing curcumin extract from Curcuma longa rhizome by soxhlet, preparing vanishing cream formulation using stearic acid and eucerin as the fat phase and triethanolamine as water basis, phenytoin and sodium lauryl sulfate as the absorption enhancer and Emulsifier and hydroxyanisole as antioxidants, preparing propolis extract by crushing the propolis samples, addition of 96% ethanol, stirring the mixture one or two times for 3 days, and keeping in a warm and dark place for one to two weeks and smoothing for one day in 1-4 centigrade temperature, contracting and separating alcohol by Rotary devices, and performing microbial tests through pour plate method. Findings: at the start of microbial testing, zero time of the vanishing cream containing preservatives (methyl paraben + propyl paraben) and the vanishing cream without preservatives and the vanishing cream containing propolis were all resistant to the microorganisms. After a week, microorganisms grew in the vanishing cream without preservatives, but no microorganism was still able to grow in the vanishing cream containing propolis and preservatives. Discussion and conclusion: this study, like other studies, indicates the preservative activity of propolis. In addition, due to lack of toxicity, the natural composition of propolis and availability of this composition as a preservative, it can be a good alternative to the usual preservatives in vanishing creams.