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INTRODUCTION
HYPOTHESIS
CONCLUSIONS & FUTURE WORK
Figure 2. Two-Step Treatment Process on Cutibacterium acnes Biofilm Growth. (a) Represents a control: C. acnes are treated with a general antibiotic. (b) The biofilm is treated with a combination of DNase I enzyme and Nicotinamide, destroying the extracellular matrix of the biofilm (6). Then, the chemical treatment Chitosan-Caffeic Acid (CCA) is added. (c) Similar to (b), both Nicotinamide and DNase I are introduced to the biofilm, destroying the extracellular matrix. Then, the natural oregano essential oil is added.
HYPOTHESIZED TWO-STEP TREATMENT PROCESS
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REFERENCES
If C. acnes biofilms are first disturbed with a biofilm disruptor, then treated in combination with an acne treatment, they can more effectively be destroyed.
CHEMICAL VS NATURAL
Figure 3. A comparison of the effectiveness of chemical vs. natural treatments for two strains of bacteria, S. epidermidis and C. acnes, that cause acne. MIC (minimum inhibition concentration) represents the lowest concentration needed of an antimicrobial agent to hinder visible growth of microorganisms in mg/mL. The smaller the MIC value, the more effective the treatment. Even though oregano was the most effective natural treatment (4), it is still less effective than the least effective chemical treatment (7). The difference between the highest and lowest MIC values of natural treatments (4) is much greater than the difference between the highest and lowest MIC values of chemical treatments (7).
* Ranges the MIC of 2 strains of C. acnes (C. acne isolate 2874 - C. acne isolate 2875)
Investigating the Effectiveness of the Biofilm Disrupting Agents in Combination with Acne Treatments
Shannon Kelleher, Francesca Mendejar, Carleigh Newman, Adrianna Scalo, Teresa Scotto, & Sarina Shields
Microbial Biofilms in Human Health Stream, First-year Research Immersion Program
METHODS
DISPERSION METHODS
Figure 1. Two-Step Treatment Process on Cutibacterium acnes Biofilm Growth. A comparison of using a typical antibiotic acne treatment (a) to using the DNase I and Nicotinamide model (b), in order to find the most effective biofilm combination treatment (c). (a) Represents a control: C. acnes are treated with a general antibiotic. (b) The biofilm is treated with a combination of DNase I enzyme, which destroys the extracellular matrix, and Nicotinamide (NAM), reducing the amount of acne left (5). (c) An unknown dispersion agent is added along with an unknown drug, which has the potential to destroy the biofilm more effectively than DNase I and NAM.
Figure 2. Method for Testing Combined Treatments. The biofilms were first grown in test tubes. After 1 minute, the tubes were emptied out by a pipette and were flipped outside without undergoing a wash step. Next, the tubes were left overnight at room temperature. After growing the biofilms overnight, they were placed into their specific wells. Well (a) represents our negative control. Well (b) represents the positive control. Well (c) represents the biofilm and the addition of NAM. Well (d) represents the biofilms with the addition of DNase I, and well (e) represents the biofilms being submerged with the combination of DNase I and NAM. Overall, this shows how the biofilms were grown, and that when a dispersion agent and treatment are added together, the treatment is more effective. (6)
Figure 4. A Comparison of Dispersion Efficacy. Six different dispersion methods were tested for their ability to disperse Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. Dispersion methods were tested in their most efficient concentrations: 310nM chloroform-extracted spent medium (CSM), 3.5mg/L Iron, 18mM Glutamate, 500μM Nitric oxide, 10mM Ammonium chloride, and 2mM Mercury chloride. Dispersion efficacy was measured through optical density (OD 600); the higher the optical density, the more effective the dispersion method. Nitric Oxide possessed the highest dispersion efficacy; therefore, it would be the most effective dispersion method out of the six tested methods. Dispersion methods have been commonly studied using P. aeruginosa; however, this data can be applied to other bacteria, such as C. acnes. In this way, one can compare these proven dispersion methods with the two-step treatment model proposed earlier. From here, it can be understood that using Nitric Oxide in conjunction with a natural or chemical treatment has potential to be an effective treatment for acne.
3.Syal S, Pandit V, Ashawat MS. 2020. Traditional herbs to treat acne vulgaris. Asian J Pharm Research 10:195–201
4.Taleb MH, Abdeltawab NF, Shamma RN, Abdelgayed SS, Mohamed SS, Farag MA, Ramadan MA. 2018. Origanum vulgare L. Essential oil as a potential anti-acne topical nanoemulsion—in vitro and in vivo study. Molecules 23.
5.Shih Y-H, Liu D, Chen Y-C, Liao M-H, Lee W-R, Shen S-C. 2021. pharmaceutics Activation of Deoxyribonuclease I by Nicotinamide as a New Strategy to Attenuate Tetracycline-Resistant Biofilms of Cutibacterium acnes https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics.
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