Antimicrobial Property of Lauric Acid Against Propionibacterium Acnes: Its Therapeutic Potential for Inflammatory Acne Vulgaris

Abstract

The strong bactericidal properties of lauric acid (C12:0), a middle chain-free fatty acid commonly found in natural products, have been shown in a number of studies. However, it has not been demonstrated whether lauric acid can be used for acne treatment as a natural antibiotic against Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes), which promotes follicular inflammation (inflammatory acne). This study evaluated the antimicrobial property of lauric acid against P. acnes both in vitro and in vivo. Incubation of the skin bacteria P. acnes, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), and Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. epidermidis) with lauric acid yielded minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values against the bacterial growth over 15 times lower than those of benzoyl peroxide (BPO). The lower MIC values of lauric acid indicate stronger antimicrobial properties than that of BPO. The detected values of half maximal effective concentration (EC50) of lauric acid on P. acnes, S. aureus, and S. epidermidis growth indicate that P. acnes is the most sensitive to lauric acid among these bacteria. In addition, lauric acid did not induce cytotoxicity to human sebocytes. Notably, both intradermal injection and epicutaneous application of lauric acid effectively decreased the number of P. acnes colonized with mouse ears, thereby relieving P. acnes-induced ear swelling and granulomatous inflammation. The obtained data highlight the potential of using lauric acid as an alternative treatment for antibiotic therapy of acne vulgaris.

An update on the role of the sebaceous gland in the pathogenesis of acne

“…Topical application or intradermal injection of lauric acid in vivo shows remarkable therapeutic effectiveness against P. acnesinduced inflammation and significant reduction in the number of bacteria. 98 Furthermore, lauric acid, palmitic acid (16:0) and oleic acid (C18:1, cis-9), which are the typical FFA found in human sebum, enhanced the hBD-2 expression and antimicrobial activity of human sebocytes against P. acnes 99 indicating that sebum FFA are involved in the disinfecting activity of the human skin both through their direct antimicrobial characteristics and by inducing AMP in human sebocytes to enhance their innate immune defense ability.…”

Beyond acne: Current aspects of sebaceous gland biology and function

“…Histone H4 may be a major component of the antimicrobial action of human sebocytes; its release may play an important role in skin innate immunity [123]. On the other hand, sebaceous fatty acids exhibit antibacterial and antifungal properties [121,[124][125][126] and enhance the innate immune defence of human sebocytes by upregulating hBD-2 expression [121,127].…”

Perspectivas Da Utilização Dos Óleos Da Macaúba (Acrocomia Aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd. Ex Mart) No Desenvolvimento De Cosméticos.

“…É utilizado em produtos cosméticos por suas habilidades hidratantes e efeito contra acne, devido a propriedades antimicrobianas (Nakatsuji et al, 2009). …”