Effects of a skin neuropeptide (substance p) on cutaneous microflora.
- Lily Mijouin
- Mélanie Hillion
- Yasmina Ramdani
- Thomas Jaouen
- Cécile Duclairoir-Poc
- Marie-Laure Follet-Gueye
- Elian Lati
- Florent Yvergnaux
- Azzedine Driouich
- Luc Lefeuvre
- Christine Farmer
- Laurent Misery
- Marc G J Feuilloley
DOIAbstract
BACKGROUND: Skin is the largest human neuroendocrine organ and hosts the second most numerous microbial population but the interaction of skin neuropeptides with the microflora has never been investigated. We studied the effect of Substance P (SP), a peptide released by nerve endings in the skin on bacterial virulence. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Bacillus cereus, a member of the skin transient microflora, was used as a model. Exposure to SP strongly stimulated the cytotoxicity of B. cereus (+553±3% with SP 10(-6) M) and this effect was rapid (<5 min). Infection of keratinocytes with SP treated B. cereus led to a rise in caspase1 and morphological alterations of the actin cytoskeleton. Secretome analysis revealed that SP stimulated the r...