Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

How does Acne develop? What causes acne?

Hi guardadoo,

Your questions sound like something you need to answer using background research. A quick internet search for "what causes acne" will give you a lot of information. Remember to focus on sites you can trust, like medical sites. Here are a few to get you started:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/107146.php
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/acne/D ... ION=causes
http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and- ... cne-basics

I hope this helps. Please post again (in this same thread) if you have more questions.

Heather

I'm doing a doing a project and would like to test some medications on a strain of P. acne associated with healthy and unhealthy skin. Cannot use people for the experiment. What other things can I use to test on unhealthy skin as well as healthy skin?

Thank you! I have a other question...I'm doing a project and would like to test some medications on a strain of P. acne associated with healthy and unhealthy skin. Cannot use people for the experiment. What other things can I use to test on unhealthy skin as well as healthy skin?

Hi!

This seems like a very applicable and practical project to me! Remember, when P. acne grows on skin, a common misconception is that the skin itself is causing acne, when in reality the acne is caused by the Propionibacterium acnes strain of bacteria. Therefore, you can use the bacteria itself and grow its culture in a Petri dish or such and test medications on that. This in fact would be a more effective method than testing skin, as it allows for a more controlled experiment with only the bacteria and its medications without extra factors affecting the results. By the way, what medications were you looking at?

Hope this helps!

Thank you! This does help. I am still figuring out what medications to use. Any suggestions?

Hello there,

One concern I would have if you are directly swabbing bacteria from human skin and plating it is how you're actually going to identify P. acnes from the rest of the bacteria that lives on your skin. Furthermore, how are you going to distinguish between which P. acnes from the skin are associated with healthy skin versus unhealthy skin? I do know that ATCC sells a strain of P. acnes which has been isolated from facial acne, but as far as I know, I do not think they sell a strain of P. acnes that normally resides on the skin of healthy individuals. It may be worth it to contact any labs around the area in which you live that works on P. acnes and see whether they have pure isolates of P. acnes strains that are from healthy individuals versus people with acne. That way, you can then test the effects on the growth of these two strains in culture in the presence of acne medication. Also, do note that P. acnes requires special conditions to grow (i.e. an anaerobic environment), so it may be tough to culture these bacteria unless you have access to the proper equipment to grow them.

Let us know if you have any more questions!

Connie

Hi!

Just as a clarification and to support Connie's post, I meant to suggest that you obtain the strain of bacteria from a professional or commercial vendor instead of simply swabbing your skin (that would not be a controlled experiment). However, it is true that P. acnes is anaerobic, so equipment would be necessary. For suggestions for medications, I'd compile a list of the top-ranked or top-purchased and pick a few medications from each category (top-ranked, middle-ranked, lowest-ranked, etc). Check out your local pharmacy!

Hi guardadoo,

If you are determined to test healthy skin vs. unhealthy skin, you could try doing cell culture. However, you would need a mentor to do a cell culture project. (Here is information about how to find a mentor: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... tors.shtml) I am wondering what you mean by healthy vs. unhealthy skin. Are you more interested in the effects of different medications on P. acne? If so, you can culture the bacteria instead. Here are resources regarding the use of bacteria for a science project: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ques.shtml

I think testing different medications on P. acne, or even related bacteria, could make a really good project. Please keep us posted as your project progresses.

Heather

I would like to know what does P.acne need to grow and live since it is a bacteria.

Hi,

Methods for culturing and experimenting with P. acnes are available online. Just search google and you can find what you need. For example, see this site for directions: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01713155

ATCC sells freeze-dried cultures of P. acnes: http://www.atcc.org/Search_Results.aspx ... 30&redir=1
but they are about $300. As I suggested before, if you live near a university, call the microbiology department and ask if anyone there can give you a culture of the bacterium as a gift. Most people are willing to help high school science students.

PLEASE post any further questions to THIS thread so all your questions and our answers are together. It makes it much easier for us to follow the narrative.

Sybee