1887

Abstract

Various views are held about the antibacterial mechanisms operating on the skin surface (for reviews see Burtenshaw, 1945; Naylor and Rook, 1968). Substances resembling long-chain fatty acids extracted from normal skin by Burtenshaw (1945) had a marked bactericidal action on Ricketts, Squire and Topley (1951) suggested that a chemical mechanism was largely responsible for the destruction of on the skin, whereas drying is responsible for the destruction of and ; both factors appeared to contribute to the elimination of They concluded that unsaturated fatty acids, particularly oleic acid, are the active chemical agents. These fatty acids may be produced on the skin surface as a result of the splitting of esters in the sebum by the commensal flora (Scheimann , 1960; Davidson, 1965; Naylor, 1970).

Many workers have studied the antibacterial action of lipids (Walker, 1924; Dubos, 1947; Pollock, 1948; Nieman, 1954; Galbraith , 1971; Butcher, King and Dyke, 1976), usually in fluid media in which suspensions of bacteria had been added to emulsions of various lipids. Burtenshaw (1945) was unable to demonstrate an antibacterial effect with lipid substances placed in punched-out holes in an agar medium containing haemolytic streptococci; he concluded that antibacterial lipids did not diffuse in agar medium. Dubos (1947) described the influence of various lipids incorporated in solid media on the number and diameter of bacterial colonies.

Because the lipids on the skin probably exist as a water-in-lipid emulsion (Herrmann, Prose and Sulzberger, 1953), experimental procedures with a solid medium probably imitate the physical conditions on the skin better than studies of suspensions of bacteria in aqueous solutions containing fine droplets of emulsified lipid (Milyani and Selwyn, 1978). The following qualitative and quantitative studies take account of this view. A preliminary report of the qualitative method was given by Naylor (1970).

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/00222615-13-3-469
1980-08-01
2024-03-28
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Aly R., Maibach H. I., Shinefield H. R., Strauss W. G. 1972; Survival of pathogenic microorganisms on human skin. J. invest. Derm 58:205
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Burtenshaw J. M. L. 1945; Self-disinfection of the skin: a short review and some original observations. Br. med. Bull 3:161
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Butcher G. W., King G., Dyke K. G. H. 1976; Sensitivity of Staphylococcus aureus to unsaturated fatty acids. J. gen. Microbiol 94:290
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Davidson C. 1965; The antibacterial action of free fatty acids and their production from lipids by the normal skin flora. Cambridge University Part II Pathology Research Project Department of Pathology Library University of Cambridge;
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Dubos R. J. 1947; The effect of lipids and serum albumin on bacterial growth. J. exp. Med 85:9
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Freinkel R. K. 1968; The origin of free fatty acids in sebum. I. Role of coagulase negative staphylococci. J. invest. Derm 50:186
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Freinkel R. K., Shen Y. 1969; The origin of free fatty acids in sebum. II. Assay of the lipases of the cutaneous bacteria and effects of pH. J. invest. Derm 53:422
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Galbraith H., Miller T. B., Paton A. M., Thompson J. K. 1971; Antibacterial activity of long chain fatty acids and the reversal with calcium, magnesium, ergocalciferol and cholesterol. J. appl. Bact 34:803
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Herrmann F., Prose P. H., Sulzberger M. B. 1953; Studies on the ether-soluble substances on the human skin. III. The effect of sweat on the quantity of ether-soluble substances on the skin. J. invest. Derm 21:397
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Holt R. J. 1971; The esterase and lipase activity of aerobic skin bacteria. Br. J. Derm 85:18
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Kodicek E., Worden A. N. 1945; The effect of unsaturated fatty acids on Lactobacillus helveticus and other gram-positive micro-organisms. Biochem. J 39:78
    [Google Scholar]
  12. McBride M. E., Duncan W. C., Knox J. M. 1975; Physiological and environmental control of gram negative bacteria on skin. Br. J. Derm 93:191
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Marples R. R., Downing D. T., Kligman A. M. 1971; Control of free fatty acids in human surface lipids by Corynebacterium acnes. J. invest. Derm 56:127
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Marples R. R., Downing D. T., Kligman A. M. 1972; Influence of Pityrosporum species in the generation of free fatty acids in human surface lipids. J. invest. Derm 58:155
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Marples R. R., Kligman A. M., Lantis L. R., Downing D. T. 1970; The role of the aerobic microflora in the genesis of fatty acids in human surface lipids. J. invest. Derm 55:173
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Milyani R. M., Selwyn S. 1978; Quantitative studies on competitive activities of skin bacteria growing on solid media. J. med. Microbiol 11:379
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Naylor G. R. E. 1970; Bacteria and the skin. In An introduction to the biology of the skin edited by Champion R. H. Gillman T. Rook A. J. Sims R. T. Blackwell Scientific Publications; Oxford & Edinburgh: vol 1: p 197
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Naylor G. R. E., Rook A. J. 1968; Bacterial infections. In Textbook of dermatology edited by Rook A. Wilkinson D. S. Ebling S. J. G. Blackwell Scientific Publications; Oxford and Edinburgh: vol 1: p 594
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Nieman C. 1954; Influence of trace amounts of fatty acids on the growth of microorganisms. Bact. Rev 18:147
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Pollock M. R. 1948; Unsaturated fatty acids in cotton wool plugs. Nature, Lond 161:853
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Puhvel S. M., Reisner R. M. 1970; Effect of fatty acids on the growth of Corynebacterium acnes in vitro. J. invest. Derm 54:48
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Reisner R. M., Puhvel M. 1969; Lipolytic activity of Staphylococcus albus. J. invest. Derm 53:1
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Reisner R. M., Silver D. Z., Puhvel M., Sternberg T. H. 1968; Lipolytic activity of Corynebacterium acnes. J. invest. Derm 51:190
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Ricketts C. R., Squire J. R., Topley E. 1951; Human skin lipids with particular reference to the self-sterilising power of the skin. Clin. Sci 10:89
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Scheimann L. G., Knox G., Sher D., Rothman S. 1960; The role of bacteria in the formation of free fatty acids on the human skin surface. J. invest. Derm 34:171
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Sharpe A. N., Dyett E. J., Jackson A. K., Kilsby D. C. 1972; Technique and apparatus for rapid and inexpensive enumeration of bacteria. Appl. Microbiol 24:4
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Sharpe A. N., Jackson A. K. 1972; Stomaching; a new concept in bacteriological sample preparation. Appl. Microbiol 24:175
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Somerville D. A. 1969; The normal flora of the skin in different age groups. Br. J. Derm 81:248
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Walker J. E. 1924; The germicidal properties of chemically pure soaps. J. infect. Dis 35:557
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/00222615-13-3-469
Loading
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error