Therapeutic Use of Bee Venom and Potential Applications in Veterinary Medicine

Simple Summary Bee products consist of many substances that have long been known for their medicinal and health-beneficial properties. Venom is certainly the one that has attracted the most interest due to the complexity of its chemical composition. Several types of research have been conducted utilizing biological (cellular) systems to figure out the properties of bee venom in vitro. Primarily, cell lines of various sorts and origins are used for this purpose. Afterward, experiments on murine models paved the way for clinical trials on humans. Therefore, there are numerous reviews summarising the uses of venom for human medicine, but none have focused on its use in veterinary medicine. This review aims to gather the relevant publications on the use of bee venom in veterinary medicine. Abstract Apitherapy is a branch of alternative medicine that consists of the treatment of diseases through products collected, processed, and secreted by bees, specifically pollen, propolis, honey, royal jelly, and bee venom. In traditional medicine, the virtues of honey and propolis have been well-known for centuries. The same, however, cannot be said for venom. The use of bee venom is particularly relevant for many therapeutic aspects. In recent decades, scientific studies have confirmed and enabled us to understand its properties. Bee venom has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, central nervous system inhibiting, radioprotective, antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties, among others. Numerous studies have often been summarised in reviews of the scientific literature that have focused on the results obtained with mouse models and their subsequent transposition to the human patient. In contrast, few reviews of scientific work on the use of bee venom in veterinary medicine exist. This review aims to take stock of the research achievements in this particular discipline, with a view to a recapitulation and stabilisation in the different research fields.