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Episode 28: Lactobacilli in the microbiomes of the gut, skin, reproductive tract and more

/in Podcast, Season Two /by Laura

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The Science, Microbes & Health Podcast 

This podcast covers emerging topics and challenges in the science of probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics and fermented foods. This is the podcast of The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP), a nonprofit scientific organization dedicated to advancing the science of these fields.

Lactobacilli in the microbiomes of the gut, skin, reproductive tract and more, with Prof. Kingsley Anukam PhD

Episode summary:

In this episode, the ISAPP podcast hosts cover a range of topics related to lactobacilli and health with Prof. Kingsley Anukam PhD from Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Nigeria. Prof. Anukam has a special interest in lactobacilli, and studies lactobacilli in microbiomes across many different contexts: fermented foods, skin, gut, and reproductive tract sites. He talks about the wide range of research he has led in Nigeria using diverse sources of funding.

Key topics from this episode:

  • Prof. Anukam describes his collaboration with Prof. Gregor Reid PhD early in his career, prompted by a paper claiming that African women did not have vaginal microbiomes dominated by lactobacilli. Subsequent work showed this was not the case – confounding factors contributed to the initial result.
  • He cautions researchers against making conclusions about race or ethnicity when geographical variations or other factors could better account for the differences between groups. In studies it’s important to specify the geography as well as the other factors (dietary, cultural) that may impact the gut microbiome in these populations.
  • There is a long history of fermented foods in Africa but not a lot of research has been done on them. In a 2009 paper with Prof. Reid, Prof. Anukam reported isolated lactic acid species from a fermented food called okpeye produced in Eastern Nigeria. The isolates showed potential for industrial applications.
  • Most of his research studies are funded from outside Nigeria, with different sources of funding.
  • ‘Parachute’ science is common in Africa, where researchers come into an African country, obtain samples and leave. He encourages researchers to involve local scientists to build capacity and allow them to do the analysis.
  • Prof. Anukam describes a clinical trial he led on the skin microbiome and malodor in Nigerian youth. He found the skin microbiome in the armpit was altered if individuals used deodorants and antiperspirants; and these individuals kept having the same malodor issues. Individuals with less odor were found to have more lactobacilli on the skin, with differences in composition between men and women. They developed a topical cream to use as an intervention for 14 days, and found that lactobacilli on the skin increased and less odor was reported.
  • The microbiome(s) of the male reproductive organs have not been studied very much. Semen has a microbiome, and this is shown by both culture and non-culture methods. It is dominated by lactobacilli, and this corresponds with semen quality. The evidence is mixed on the existence of testes and prostate microbiomes. A gut-testes connection may exist, however, as shown in mouse studies.
  • Prof. Anukam says in a study of subjects seeking reproductive healthcare, different microbiomes were observed both in males and females having difficulty conceiving.
  • The semen microbiome could play a significant role in reproduction – for example, it may produce metabolites that could affect the female reproductive tract and influence the environment for conception to take place. When doing in vitro fertilization, evidence has shown that if the samples are contaminated by pathogens, it can be difficult to achieve conception.

Episode links:

About Prof. Kingsley Anukam PhD:

Kingsley C Anukam is a research scientist in human microbiome and biotherapeutics with over 20 years experience. He shares his time between Canada and Nigeria as an adjunct professor at Nnamdi Azikiwe University where he assists in the training and supervision of post graduate students working in the area of probiotics, fermented foods, human microbiome, infectious diseases, laboratory diagnostics, human genomics and forensic DNA analysis. He had his graduate education in Nigeria and post doctorate training in Dr. Gregor Reid’s Lab at Lawson Health Research Institute and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Western University, Canada. He is the first from Africa to show that vaginal microbiome of healthy Nigerian women is similar to women from other populations irrespective of geographical location. He has sequenced and annotated the full genome of over 10 Lactobacillus species of African origin mainly from the reproductive tract and African fermented foods in collaboration with Prof. Sarah Lebeer. He played a significant role in the formation of the DORA project, an ISALA-inspired citizen science for vaginal health in Nigeria. He has over 80 scientific research publications in peer-reviewed journals and listed among first 10 most cited researcher at Nnamdi Azikiwe University by Google Scholar. He is currently the Chief Editor, Journal of Medical Laboratory Science, and a peer-reviewer of several international journals.

Can control of body malodor using probiotic topical cream be considered as a health benefit?

/in ISAPP Science Blog /by KC

By Victoria Onwuliri, Masters degree student, with Dr. Kingsley C. Anukam, Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Health Sciences and Technology, College of Health Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi Campus, Nnewi, Anambra State, Nigeria.

I recall years back as a teenager, axillary sweating and pubertal odor were one of the overwhelming challenges I experienced. It really affected how I related with the people around me, and I became socially withdrawn. I was introduced to the use of deodorants after a very attractive advertisement on television. Truthfully, though, these personal hygiene products were not a good match for my active teenage lifestyle because their effects waned easily and I was back to my sweaty self. This continued with all different products I used; they would wear off, leaving my axilla smelling stronger than before. Sharing my experience with other adolescents like me made me realize that we all were facing similar issues and were seeking a long-lasting solution. I am very certain many teenagers and young adults all over the world are currently experiencing same problem and are in need of a solution.

Later on, as a scientist, I wondered if I could explore a solution for this problem. First, what was causing the odor? Several fundamental studies have shown that the apocrine gland that is located in the hypodermis of the skin is responsible for secreting the odorless precursor molecules. These precursors are transformed by some bacteria residing on the skin into smelly molecules including but not limited to sulphanylalkanols, short volatile branched-chain fatty acids and some steroid derivatives. It should be noted that both males and females produce some levels of body odor, but the intensity varies as females have 75% more apocrine glands in their armpits than males but males have larger apocrine glands. The differences in the size and number of apocrine glands may explain why males tend to smell more than females. (I hope my male colleagues will not take offense for my sharing this fact). However, differences in hygiene habits such as regular shaving, use of antiseptic soap, use of deodorants and antiperspirants could also play a role.

I was involved in a study with Dr. Kingsley C. Anukam as my supervisor in 2019 on the effect of antiperspirants and deodorants on the axillary skin microbiome of adult male and female subjects. This study supported my teenage observation that I was worse off after using these products: the study showed that the resultant effect of the regular use of these personal hygiene products was an imbalance in the seemingly normal bacterial population of the axillary skin, thereby promoting the proliferation of malodor-producing organisms such as Corynebacterium, Cutibacterium, some Staphylococcus and Streptococcus species. Interestingly lactobacilli were also detected in the axilla of over 82% of female and over 81% of male subjects, though in low relative abundance which suggests that lactobacilli might be considered as part of the normal axillary bacterial community. From this work, an idea emerged on exploring the possible beneficial effect of probiotics in decreasing the relative abundance of malodor-producing bacteria in the axilla of healthy adult individuals.

Dr. Anukam and I set up a study and employed the use of oil-based topical cream, made from natural ingredients, fortified with a probiotic of Nigerian origin, Lactiplantibacillus pentosus KCA1 strain.

Since some species of Corynebacterium (particularly Corynebacterium striatum, and Corynebacterium jeikeium), and Staphylococcus haemolyticus, Staphylococcus hominis, and Staphylococcus lugdunensis isolated from human axilla have been implicated in the generation of malodour volatile substances 1,2, and the fact that we identified lactobacilli in low abundance in the axilla of healthy subjects compared with Corynebacterium and Staphylococcus species, Dr. Anukam, agreed that applying lactobacilli, (which are generally regarded as safe bacteria) to the skin might change the ecology to a state whereby some lactobacilli with probiotic characteristics can nestle on the axillary skin.

The data obtained from the study3 which has already been published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology (https://doi.10.1111/jocd.13949) showed the positive impact of this probiotic-fortified topical cream on the human axillary skin microbiota, as a means of reducing axillary malodor. We drew this conclusion based on the fact that malodor-producing Staphylococcus and Corynebacterium species were significantly reduced in abundance after applying the probiotic cream. In addition, all the participants gave positive feedback as they reported not perceiving any malodor during the study period.  Another interesting in silico finding from the study was the down-regulation of the bacterial metabolic functional genes such as the PLP-dependent protein (K06997) and pyridoxal 5′-phosphate synthase pdxS subunit (K06215) after the application of the probiotic cream.

This appears much more desirable when compared to the effect of regular usage of antiperspirants and deodorants on the axillary skin microbiome.

However, some arguments have arisen whether reduction of body odor could be taken as a health benefit since probiotic definition stipulates that a probiotic must ‘confer a health benefit on the host’. We know that body malodor has some social and psychological implications to some people which might impact negatively on their mental health. We therefore suggest that using tested microorganisms to reduce body malodor may contribute to the wellbeing of individuals, so this would count as a probiotic intervention.

We are not saying that probiotic cream alone would completely solve the problem of axillary skin/body malodor, but we believe its positive effect outweighs that of the antiperspirants and deodorants. In addition, the potential beneficial effects of skin-based probiotics could be increasingly explored by the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. Regarding our work, further study involving a larger population and more insight on the functional malodor control attributes of lactobacilli are warranted. I know teenagers everywhere are waiting for this breakthrough.

Preparation of topical cream fortified with Lactiplantibacillus pentosus KCA1

(GeneBank Accession # NZ_CM001538.1)

The study used natural ingredients that have already-known benefits on the skin, in the preparation of the topical cream. During the preparation, ingredients were heated and purified, in order to maintain sterility and keep them in their oil forms before the incorporation of the lyophilized Lactiplantibacillus pentosus KCA1.

Finished product:

 

 

Ingredients:

Cocoa butter, coconut oil, lavender oil, shea butter, lyophilized Lactiplantibacillus pentosus KCA1

 

 

References

  1. Natsch A, Schmid J, Flachsmann F. Identification of odoriferous sulfanylalkanols in human axilla secretions and their formation through cleavage of cysteine precursors by a C-S lyase isolated from axilla bacteria. Chem Biodivers. 2004;1(7):1058–72
  2. Bawdon D, Cox DS, Ashford D, James AG, Thomas GH. Identification of axillary Staphylococcus sp. involved in the production of the malodorous thioalcohol 3-methyl-3-sufanylhexan-1-ol. FEMS Microbiology Letters 2015; 362: fnv111. doi: 10.1093/femsle/fnv111
  3. Onwuliri V, Agbakoba NR, Anukam KC. Topical cream containing live lactobacilli decreases malodor-producing bacteria and downregulates genes encoding PLP-dependent enzymes on the axillary skin microbiome of healthy adult Nigerians. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2021;00:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocd.13949

 

 

 

Victoria Onwuliri is a Master degree student in the Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Health Sciences and Technology, College of Health Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi Campus, Nnewi, Anambra State, Nigeria.