1887

Abstract

The pH of skin is critical for skin health and resilience and plays a key role in controlling the skin microbiome. It has been well reported that under dysbiotic conditions such as atopic dermatitis (AD), eczema, etc. there are significant aberrations of skin pH, along with a higher level of compared to the commensal on skin. To understand the effect of pH on the relative growth of and , we carried out simple growth kinetic studies of the individual microbes under varying pH conditions. We demonstrated that the growth kinetics of is relatively insensitive to pH within the range of 5–7, while shows a stronger pH dependence in that range. Gompertz’s model was used to fit the pH dependence of the growth kinetics of the two bacteria and showed that the equilibrium bacterial count of was the more sensitive parameter. The switch in growth rate happens at a pH of 6.5–7. Our studies are in line with the general hypothesis that keeping the skin pH within an acidic range is advantageous in terms of keeping the skin microbiome in balance and maintaining healthy skin.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.001421
2021-09-23
2024-04-16
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Parra JL, Paye M. EEMCO Group EEMCO guidance for the in vivo assessment of skin surface pH. Skin Pharmacol Appl Skin Physiol 2003; 16:188–202 [View Article]
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Ohman H, Vahlquist A. In vivo studies concerning a pH gradient in human stratum corneum and upper epidermis. Acta Derm Venereol 1994; 74:375–379 [View Article]
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Fluhr JW, Kao J, Jain M, Ahn SK, Feingold KR et al. Generation of free fatty acids from phospholipids regulates stratum corneum acidification and integrity. J Invest Dermatol 2001; 117:44–51 [View Article]
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Heuss E. Die REAKTION Des Schweisses beim Gesunden Menschen. Monatschr Prakt Dermatol 1892; 14:341–343
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Schade H, Marchionini A. Der Säuremantel der Haut (Nach gaskettenmessungen). Klin Wochenschr 1928; 7:12–14 [View Article]
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Ament W, Huizenga JR, Mook GA, Gips CH, Verkerke GJ. Lactate and ammonia concentration in blood and sweat during incremental cycle ergometer exercise. Int J Sports Med 1997; 18:35–39 [View Article]
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Prakash C, Bhargava P, Tiwari S, Majumdar B, Bhargava RK. Skin surface ph in acne vulgaris: Insights from an observational study and review of the literature. J Clin Aesthet Dermatol 2017; 10:33–39
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Krien PM, Kermici M. Evidence for the existence of a self-regulated enzymatic process within the human stratum corneum -an unexpected role for urocanic acid. J Invest Dermatol 2000; 115:414–420 [View Article]
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Hulpusch C, Tremmel K, Hammer G, Bhattacharya M et al. Skin pH-dependent Staphylococcus aureus abundance as predictor for increasing atopic dermatitis severity. Allergy 2020; 00:1–11 [View Article]
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Fournière M, Latire T, Souak D, Feuilloley MGJ, Bedoux G. Staphylococcus epidermidis and Cutibacterium acnes: two major sentinels of skin microbiota and the influence of cosmetics. Microorganisms 2020; 8:1752 [View Article]
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Lambers H, Piessens S, Bloem A, Pronk H, Finkel P. Natural skin surface ph is on average below 5, which is beneficial for its resident flora. Int J Cosmet Sci 2006; 28:359–370 [View Article]
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Byrd AL, Deming C, Cassidy SKB, Harrison OJ, Ng W-I et al. Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis strain diversity underlying pediatric atopic dermatitis. Sci Transl Med 2017; 9:397 [View Article]
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Kong HH, Oh J, Deming C, Conlan S, Grice EA et al. Temporal shifts in the skin microbiome associated with disease flares and treatment in children with atopic dermatitis. Genome Res 2012; 22:850–859 [View Article]
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Gompertz B. On the nature of the function expressive of the law of human mortality, and on a new mode of determining the value of life contingencies. Philos Trans R Soc London 1825; 115:513–585
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Zwietering MH, Jongenburger I, Rombouts FM, van’t Riet K. Modeling of the bacterial growth curve. Appl Environ Microbiol 1990; 56:1875–1881 [View Article]
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Nowicka D, Grywalska E. The role of immune defects and colonization of Staphylococcus aureus in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis. Anal Cell Pathol (Amst) 2018; 2018:1956403 [View Article]
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Nath S, Kumari N, Bandyopadhyay D, Sinha N et al. Dysbiotic lesional microbiome with fillagrin missense variants associate with atopic dermatitis in India. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2020; 10:570423 [View Article]
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Christensen GJM, Brüggemann H. Bacterial skin commensals and their role as host guardians. Beneficial Microbes 2014; 5:201–215 [View Article]
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Takagi Y, Kaneda K, Miyaki M, Matsuo K et al. The long-term use of soap does not affect the pH-maintenance mechanism of human skin. Skin Res Technol 2015; 21:144–148 [View Article]
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.001421
Loading
/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.001421
Loading

Data & Media 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