Health Data Tip

A study on pimples with Lactobacillus Plantarum k-1 of Bio Rhythm

While pimples, which are caused by a variety of factors, are not life threatening, they can influence interpersonal relations by damaging personal image and psychological stability.

Testosterone, the male hormone, is secreted in the body and sebum forms. Pores are keratinized and sebum cannot be discharged out of the pores which form microcomedones. When pores are blocked for any kind of reason, “Propionibacterium acnes”, the resident skin flora, proliferate, polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMNL) is chemically induced, and inflammation occurs. Finally, pimples are formed. While pimples are naturally treated as internal or external factors that can be alleviated, they leave scars including red spots, discoloration or red scars depending on the length and severity of pimples. The importance of skin care has been gradually drawing attention.

Pimples form on faces and chests where sebaceous glands are generally most closely packed. Over 3 million sebaceous glands secrete quantities of sebum out of the pores. Inflammation begins inside the pores through the interaction of diverse factors including excessive keratinization of the pores abnormally increased, an increase of sebum excretion, acceleration of sebum generation by androgens, irritation of follicle walls by free fatty acids and glycerol, the lipolysis degradation caused by a proliferation of P. acnes, which is bacteria that remains in the follicles, and roles of chemoattractants.

The factors causing sebum to be secreted in quantity from sebaceous glands are the genetic inheritance of secreting a lot of sebum and the reaction of the sebaceous glands by androgens. The reason that the ability for generating sebum increases during adolescence is also because the ability generating the sebum caused by androgens is also suddenly increased, cortisol, which is the stress hormone caused by excessive stress, is secreted, androgens are generated when cortisol is generated in the adrenals, and sebum is generated and secreted in excess amounts. In menstruation, the concentration of progesterone in the blood increases beginning one week before the monthly period. In pregnancy, the generation of progesterone is accelerated to sustain the pregnancy and this accelerates the secretion of sebum.

Treatment for pimples aims to alleviate the abnormal keratinization of follicle cells, normalize the increasing secretion of sebum, inhibit the excessive proliferation of P. acnes and reduce inflammatory reactions. Mainly, ointments applied to affected areas or oral antibiotics are widely used but it has been reported that treatment is very difficult due to the tolerance of P. acnes to antibiotics.

Steroid preparations, retinoids, and ibuprofen, which are an antimicrobial and antioxidant agents and prostaglandin synthesis inhibitors, are generally used to inhibit the generation of sebum in the treatment of pimples. However, as the side effects of such therapeutic agents are emerging as a large issue, research has been implemented to determine the substance controlling biological activity using various kinds of plant extracts or substances that are effective for treating pimples without stimulating side effects like the existing therapeutic agents.

This study tries to screen and supply lactobacilli having remarkable antibacterial effects to manage skin disease and to prevent and treat pimples. Several theses indicate that bacteriocin-like substances (BLS) showed by lactobacilli inhibit the growth of various kinds of harmful bacteria including P. acnes, which causes pimples. Furthermore, it is known that the antibacterial ability of lactobacilli normalizes the bacterial flora in the intestines and help to clean them.

It is reported that lactobacilli have an antiviral effect against virus infection by directly inhibiting the virus infection as well as improving the immune activity in the body. In accordance with the theses related to lactobacilli recently presented, B. adolescentis SPM1005-A inhibits the activity of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and HPV16 type. In particular, it is reported that lactobacilli effectively inhibit the expression of the E6 and E7 protein of HPV to prevent cervical cancer.

The test has been also implemented to verify that metabolites of lactobacilli or those secreted as lactobacilli grow contain substances with anti-cancer activity against cancer cells including colon cancer. The cytotoxicity of lactobacillus lysate against normal cells was low--around 20%--in a test on the anti-cancer action of lactobacilli against cancer cells. However, lactobacillus lysate contained the active substances against cancers by showing the activity inhibiting the growth of cancer cells corresponding to over 70% in accordance with the measurement of activity inhibiting the growth of cancer cells using cancer cell lines per organ.

On the basis of the facts above, this paper separates the new functional lactobacillus strains that have remarkable antimicrobial activity, identifies the features of those lactobacillus strains, adds them to everyday food such as Kimchi, and manufactures functional fermented foods containing this antimicrobial function or directly drink the formulated antimicrobial lactobacilli to finally provide the effects to directly or indirectly prevent and treat pimples by maintaining the balance of bacterial intestinal flora.