Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate if the sensitive skin syndrome, a frequent skin disorder characterized by abnormal painful reactions to environmental factors in the absence of visible inflammatory response, could be linked to a modification in the skin bacterial population. A total of 1706 bacterial isolates was collected at the levels of the forehead, cheekbone, inner elbow, and lower area of the scapula on the skin of normal and sensitive skin syndrome-suffering volunteers of both sexes and of different ages. Among these isolates, 21 strains were randomly selected to validate in a first step the Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization (MALDI)-Biotyper process as an efficient identification tool at the group and genus levels, by comparison to API® strips and 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing identification techniques. In a second step, identification of the skin microbiota isolates by the MALDI-Biotyper tool allowed to pinpoint some differences in terms of bacterial diversity with regard to the collection area, and the volunteer's age and gender. Finally, comparison of the skin microbiota from normal and sensitive skin syndrome-suffering volunteers pointed out gender-related variations but no detectable correlation between a phylum, a genus or a dominant bacterial species and the sensitive skin phenotype. This study reveals that there is no dysbiosis of aerobic cultivable bacteria associated with the sensitive skin syndrome and further demonstrates that the MALDI-Biotyper is a powerful technique that can be efficiently employed to the study of cultivable human skin bacteria. To our knowledge, this is the first study focusing on bacteria in the sensitive skin syndrome. These results are of potential importance for pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, which are looking for new strategies to treat this multiparametric disorder.
Highlights
Skin is a complex ecosystem including yeasts, fungi, bacteria, and viruses (Kong and Segre 2012)
For the 21 randomly selected isolates, the score value by mass spectrometry was above 2.0 allowing a comparison between the three identification techniques
Genus level (20 isolates classified in the same groups between the Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization (MALDI)-Biotyper and 16S RNA sequencing techniques and 19 between MALDI-Biotyper and API strip identification) (Table 2)
Summary
Skin is a complex ecosystem including yeasts, fungi, bacteria, and viruses (Kong and Segre 2012). One billion bacteria are associated with each square centimeter of skin (Grice et al 2008) and almost 25% of this population is located deeply into the dermis (Lange-Asschenfeldt et al 2011) This bacterial population is directly interacting with keratinocytes, and bacteria play a central role in skin physiology and diseases (Rosenthal et al 2011). The sensitive skin syndrome by itself has been discussed for a long time and it is only recently that, with a more precise definition and the development of standard tests, it was clearly defined (Fluhr et al 2008).
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