*2.3. Preparation of Bee Pollen Extracts*

The extracts of the bee pollen samples were prepared according to the method of Gabriele et al. [21], with minor modifications. 0.5 g of each pollen sample was dissolved with 80% ethanol to a concentration of 0.01 g/mL. These extracts were gently shaken in the dark for 5 h and subsequently macerated for 24 h. After this time, the extracts were centrifuged for 10 min at 4500 rpm, and subsequently properly stored in amber-colored glass containers to avoid direct incidence of light.
