Department of Agricultural Biology, National Academy of Agricultural Science, Suwon 441-100, Korea; E-mail:
J Integr Med. 2013 Sep;11(5):320-6. doi: 10.3736/jintegrmed2013043.
Acne vulgaris is a chronic dermatologic problem with multiple factors involved in its pathogenesis. Alternative solutions to acne treatment were instigated by antibiotic resistance despite of its extensive use. Purified bee venom (PBV) has been proposed as a promising candidate for that purpose. The present study was designed to confirm the antibacterial effect of PBV and access the efficacy of cosmetics containing PBV in subjects with acne vulgaris.
The skin bacterium Propionibacterium acnes was incubated with PBV at various concentrations and bacterial growth was evaluated using the colony forming unit (CFU) assay. The mechanism of PBV employed in killing P. acnes was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In addition, a total of 12 subjects were randomized in a double-blind, controlled trial to receive either cosmetics containing PBV or cosmetics without PBV for two weeks. Evaluations included lesion counts and skin microorganism.
PBV exhibited antimicrobial activity in a concentration-dependent manner, reducing the number of P. acnes CFU by approximately 6 logs at a concentration of 0.5 mg. When PBV concentration was higher than 1.0 mg, no P. acnes colonies were spotted on an agar. TEM and SEM of untreated P. acnes illustrated the normal pleomorphic structure, whereas the PBV-treated bacterium lost the integrity of surface architecture. Significant difference (P=0.027) in the grading levels based on numbers of lesion counts for inflammatory and noninflammatory was observed in favour of the PBV group compared with the control group. In terms of average decrement of skin microorganism, subjects receiving cosmetics containing PBV experienced a significant 57.5% decrease of adenosine triphosphate levels, whereas participants receiving cosmetics without PBV experienced a nonsignificant decrease of 4.7%.
These results show that the in vitro actions of antimicrobial activity of PBV were translated in vivo. Cosmetics containing PBV provided a certain degree of efficacy in terms of lesion counts and skin microorganism concentration compared with cosmetics without PBV in subjects with acne vulgaris. PBV may be a good candidate compound for developing therapeutic drug for the treatment of acne vulgaris.
痤疮是一种由多种因素引起的慢性皮肤病。尽管抗生素被广泛应用，但由于其耐药性，人们开始寻找痤疮治疗的替代方法。蜂毒（PBV）已被提议作为一种有前途的候选药物。本研究旨在证实 PBV 的抗菌作用，并评估含有 PBV 的化妆品在痤疮患者中的疗效。
将皮肤细菌痤疮丙酸杆菌与 PBV 以不同浓度孵育，并通过集落形成单位（CFU）测定法评估细菌生长情况。通过扫描电子显微镜（SEM）和透射电子显微镜（TEM）检查 PBV 杀死 P. acnes 的机制。此外，共有 12 名受试者被随机分为双盲、对照试验，接受含有 PBV 的化妆品或不含 PBV 的化妆品治疗两周。评估包括病变计数和皮肤微生物。
PBV 表现出浓度依赖性的抗菌活性，在 0.5mg 浓度下，P. acnes CFU 数量减少了约 6 个对数。当 PBV 浓度高于 1.0mg 时，琼脂上没有发现 P. acnes 菌落。未经处理的 P. acnes 的 TEM 和 SEM 显示出正常的多形结构，而 PBV 处理的细菌失去了表面结构的完整性。与对照组相比，PBV 组的炎症和非炎症病变计数分级水平差异有统计学意义（P=0.027）。在皮肤微生物的平均减少方面，接受含有 PBV 的化妆品的受试者经历了显著的 57.5%的三磷酸腺苷水平下降，而接受不含 PBV 的化妆品的受试者经历了非显著的 4.7%下降。
这些结果表明，PBV 的体外抗菌活性作用在体内得到了转化。与不含 PBV 的化妆品相比，含有 PBV 的化妆品在痤疮患者的病变计数和皮肤微生物浓度方面提供了一定程度的疗效。PBV 可能是开发治疗痤疮的治疗药物的良好候选化合物。
