The skin microbiota refers to the microorganisms living on the skin, on the surface of the epidermis, but also in the dermis and the hypodermis (Nakatsuji et al., 2013). On 1 cm2 of human skin, up to a billion microorganisms are residing, including bacteria, fungi, mites, and viruses.

Bacteria, even though they represent only 0.1% of the total, are considered as the most important microorganism of the ecosystem. The majority of those bacteria represent commensal microorganisms, which take advantage of the host for nutrients and environment, and which provide in return a protection against infection and inflammation (Baldwin et al., 2017).

In fact, a close interaction between the host’s immune system and skin microorganisms has been demonstrated, contributing on the one hand to the regulation of the microbial composition in order to avoid pathogenic colonization, and on the other hand, to the education of the host’s skin immunity (Schommer and Gallo, 2013). Some species have also been put forward in the fight against oxidative stress by modulating the redox homeostasis. Indeed, their involvement in the inhibition of ROS production and their impacts, as well as in the promotion of antioxidant powers, has been highlighted (Yao et al., 2006), (Ishii et al., 2014), (Andersson et al., 2019). In this context, it appears important to take the skin microbiota into consideration during in vitro studies.

HCS Pharma offers you a standardized 2D in vitro skin microbiota model in 96-well plate made up of primary differentiated human keratinocytes and cutaneous bacteria (such as S. epidermidis, S. aureus) where we can for example mimic oxidative stress. This model aims to study the effects of your compounds on these bacteria (single bacteria or co-culture), but also to reproduce as much as possible the physiological cutaneous microenvironment in order to collect in vitro data predictive of those you may obtain in vivo. Find our models in our skin microbiota brochure, available on our website.


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