Can Lactic Acid Bacteria Speed Wound Healing?

David G. Armstrong DPM MD PhD

Researchers are showing faster wound healing following the administration of lactic acid bacteria into wounds.

 

The study, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, used a mice model to show wound healing.1 Researchers transformed Lactobacilli with a plasmid encoding C-X-C motif chemokine 12 (CXCL12), noting this enhanced wound closure via proliferation of dermal cells and macrophages, also leading to higher transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) expression in macrophages. The study notes that bacteria-produced lactic acid reduced the local pH, which inhibited the peptidase CD26 and facilitated a higher availability of bioactive CXCL12.

 

The authors also note that Lactobacilli delivering CXCL12 improved wound closure in mice with hyperglycemia or peripheral ischemia, conditions associated with chronic wounds.1 The study adds that the treatment showed macrophage proliferation on human skin in an in vitro model of wound epithelialization … read more