Xylitol activity on Staphylococcus aureus and Cutibacterium acnes biofilms from infectious skin lesions

FERNÁNDEZ NÚÑEZ, AGUSTÍN; CONFORTE, VALERIA P.; LUNA, PAULA; FARINATI, ALICIA ESTHER; QUINTEROS, MIRTA; CONFORTE, VALERIA; ROLLET, RAQUEL; CASSARÁ, MARÍA LUZ

Charlotte, NC

Congreso; ASM Conference on Biofilms; 2022

American Society of Microbiology

Background. Xylitol (Xy) is a polyalcohol that is used in the food industry toreplace sucrose. It has proven antimicrobial activity on various microorganisms ofclinical interest. Our aim was to study the activity of Xy on the formation ofbiofilms (BFs) in infectious skin diseases: atopic dermatitis (AD) and severe acne(SA). Methods. For the study of AD lesions, 34 patients aged 3 to 17 years wereincluded. Samples of active lesions were obtained with a swab moistened withsterile physiological solution. Likewise, 10 patients with SA lesions were included.The samples were taken after antisepsis of the lesion area with special strips toextract the hair follicle where the bacteria are housed. The DA and SA samples werepreserved for the isolation of bacteria present in them and the study of the effect ofXy on the formation of their BFs. The adhesion and dispersion of the BFs in thepresence of Xy 7% were analyzed by previous microscopic evaluation of crystalviolet staining, assigning a score to each sample. This score was based on the typeof development of BF with a scale: 0 indicator of absence, 5 the maximum valueobtained, depending on the degrees of development and number of bacteria in them.We carry out complementary studies with confocal microscopy. Results. BF-forming S. aureus was isolated from the AD lesions analyzed, 26 cases wereevaluated for adherence and 27 for dispersion. For adherence, the mean score wassignificantly higher after the intervention with Xy (3.67 ± 1.21 vs 2.35 ± 1.13,respectively; p