Cotton and Flax Textiles Leachables Impact Differently Cutaneous and Biofilm Formation and Cytotoxicity.

Bacteria can bind on clothes, but the impacts of textiles leachables on cutaneous bacteria remain unknown. Here, we studied for the first time the effects of cotton and flax obtained through classical and soft ecological agriculture on the representatives and bacteria of the cutaneous microbiota. Crude flax showed an inhibitory potential on bacterial lawns whereas cotton had no effect. Textile fiber leachables were produced in bacterial culture media, and these extracts were tested on and . Bacterial growth was not impacted, but investigation by the crystal violet technique and confocal microscopy showed that all extracts affected biofilm formation by the two staphylococci species. An influence of cotton and flax culture conditions was clearly observed. Flax extracts had strong inhibitory impacts and induced the formation of mushroom-like defense structures by Conversely, production of biosurfactant by bacteria and their surface properties were not modified. Resistance to antibiotics also remained unchanged. All textile extracts, and particularly soft organic flax, showed strong inhibitory effects on and cytotoxicity on HaCaT keratinocytes. Analysis of flax leachables showed the presence of benzyl alcohol that could partly explain the effects of flax extracts.