Bacteria On Skin Can Aid Wound Healing

When we hear and think of bacteria, our subconscious quickly registers the term as a threat to health and the body. But according to research I came across recently, ‘bacteria’ doesn’t quite get the recognition it sometimes deserves.

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Recognition for bacteria. Weird, right?

Well, a research on the correlation between the microbes on mice skin surface and wound healing actually reveals an interesting discovery. As much as we hate bacteria and attribute it to be highly responsible for so many illnesses, some of them have been discovered to be beneficial in terms of aiding the fast healing of wounds.

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Earlier Research on Skin and Bacteria communication

Back in 2014, a research conducted at the University of Manchester was published online. It was based on the analysis of how some types of bacteria can aid the treatment and healing of chronic wounds, which are injuries that often require greater attention and take a longer time to heal.

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The 2014 Analysis

As part of the study, Doctors took cognizance of skin bacteria from tissue samples of people who suffered chronic wounds that either healed or did not heal. This was in order to ascertain if certain bacteria types or communities were responsible for some wounds failing to heal properly.

The researchers observed something when they used laboratory mice for the study. The set of mice that were lacking a specific kind of gene were noticed to have a different arrangement of skin microbiota, which meant that they had an abundance of harmful skin bacteria that caused wounds to heal at a much slower pace than wounds of mice that had the copy of the particular gene under consideration.

The gene in question could be essential in aiding cells recognize the particular types of bacteria that they should fight, and the types they should allow to aid the wound healing stages. The gene is also linked to Crohn’s disease, which is the bowel disease that occurs when the linings of the intestinal walls experience inflammations.

The head researcher at the University of Manchester and lead author of the study, Dr. Matthew Hardman, concluded that his team was able to provide valuable evidence that can aid further studies of how cell and bacteria communication can be instrumental in effective wound treatment.

Dr. Matthew Hardman in a statement said;

“This study gives us a much better understanding of the types of bacterial species that are found in skin wounds, how our cells might respond to the bacteria and how that interaction can affect healing.”

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The 2018 Bacteria Study and Analysis

A new research published this January, 2018, further clarified earlier studies as to the discovery that microbes present on the surface of the skin can aid the immune system to respond to injury and heal wounds faster.

The research on body immunity has, overtime, focused on the body’s response to inflammations and pathogens. This has made the knowledge of how our own microbiota interacts and regulates the body’s immune system, relatively unknown.

However, as a new research on the subject begged for more recent and detailed focus, a team of NIAID scientists led by the chief of the Mucosal Immunology Section of NIAID's Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, Yasmine Belkaid, Ph.D., decided to investigate further.

Yasmine Belkaid and her colleagues at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, decided to figure out how the immune system detects and responds to microbes present and inhabiting the skin surface.

By using lab mice as well in the study, the NIAID scientists found that after injury, the immune system calls on different molecules to detect skin microbes more than it uses to sense pathogens. Also, it was discovered that the immune system’s response to certain bacterial microbes encourages the repair of injured or worn tissue.

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The Latest Discovery

Detailed investigation revealed the reaction of the immune cells of the mice to Staphylococcus epidermidis - a bacterium that doesn’t normally cause disease commonly found on human skin.

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Surprisingly, the mouse immune cells recognized the Staphylococcus epidermidis when evolutionarily non-classical MHC ancient molecules were used. This immune system alliance led to the production of unusual T cells possessing genes linked with antimicrobial defense and tissue healing.

Normally, the immune cells use classical MHC molecules to recognize disease-causing bacteria, which then lead to the production of T-cells capable of stoking inflammation.

The scientists grouped the mice test subjects into two – one group had been colonized by Staphylococcus epidermidis and the other group had not. They then took biopsy samples from the skin of the two groups of mice.

During a five day period, mice that were exposed to the Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria experienced more tissue repair at the site of their wounds with less inflammation.

The discovery has necessitated Dr. Belkaid and her team to initiate plans on probing whether non-classical MHC molecules can recognize benevolent microbes on the skin of other mammals, including humans, as well as trigger similar tissue repair.

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Conclusion

As brilliant as this discovery is, further research will certainly go a long way to explore if the findings can significantly apply to humans. Also, a deeper understanding of some microbes’ role in immunity could fast track novel approaches to tackling tissue repair which remains a basic challenge in the field of medicine.

Another point to note as well is that, although further research is needed to ascertain which specific cells and types of bacteria are compatible with one another, the strong point of the study still remains that the knowledge gained would help unlock future methods of research and lead to new approaches toward wound healing treatments.

Also if the processes initiated by the microbes can be mimicked, clinicians may be able to use the procedure to not only accelerate wound healing, but also be able to prevent dangerous infections.

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Study (2018): Paper

Reference:

• Nature
• Advanced Tissue
• Science Daily

Further Reading:

• Medical News Today
• Nutrition Review
• Bacteria and Wound Healing
• Diseases Conditions

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Thank you for your time and for reading my post.

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@rickie