Abstract
Apart from the skin surface, hair represents a significant tissue component with a capacity of bacterial interactions. New information can be obtained about hair function through the characterization of bacterial adherence, colonization, and responses to hair shafts per se. In this proof-of-principle study, we examine the growth kinetics of Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli in the presence of human hair shafts. We explore the ability of these bacteria to adhere to and colonize hair shaft surfaces, as well as the resulting impact on the hair’s surface morphology. We show that hair shafts inhibit the growth of Gram-positive S. aureus and S. epidermidis, while the growth kinetics of P. aeruginosa and E. coli remain unaffected. Scanning electron microscope analysis and steeping studies show that P. aeruginosa and E. coli to adhere to and colonize on human hair shafts without significantly affecting the hair shaft’s surface morphology. P. aeruginosa produced a substantial amount of biofilm on the hair shaft surfaces, while E. coli specifically inhabited the edges of the cuticle scales. Taken together, our results demonstrate differences in bacterial responses to human hair shafts, which may provide novel insights into hair and scalp health.
Highlights
The human hair shaft is keratinized fibrous tissue that grows from follicles beyond the surface of the epidermis
The results showed no effects on bacterial growth (Supplementary Figure S1), indicating that the growth of S. aureus and S. epidermidis was inhibited by the physical presence of the hair shafts
No firm adherence of American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) strains of S. epidermidis and S. aureus was noted in this study, the clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-resistant S. epidermidis (MRSE) were found to colonize on the hair shaft (Mase et al, 2000)
Summary
The human hair shaft is keratinized fibrous tissue that grows from follicles beyond the surface of the epidermis. Scalp disorders including folliculitis types, fungal diseases, dandruff, and folliculitis decalvans, among others, are caused by or linked to microbes, which play a key role in disease predisposition and pathogenesis (DeAngelis et al, 2005; Grimalt, 2007; Wang et al, 2015). Interaction of Bacteria With Human Hair Shafts (Gemmer et al, 2002; Clavaud et al, 2013). Balance of the bacterial population is fundamentally connected to limiting fungal growth, scalp health, and disorders, but the interaction of these bacterial community members with the hair shaft has not been elucidated. From the viewpoint of host defense mechanisms, it is important to study the ability of bacteria to adhere and replicate and their interaction with resident and commensal microflora
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