Minocycline and staphylococcal microbiota in acne patients

Arzumanian V.G., Masyukova S.A., Sergeev A.Y., Grebenyuk D.V., Ilina I.V, Alieva Z.A., Artemieva T.A., Butovchenkюo L.M.

* Mechnikov Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera, Moscow
** The Institute of Medical and Social Technologies, Moscow
*** I.M. Sechenov 1st MSMU, Moscow

Minocycline is the tetracycline antibiotic used in the therapy of different forms of acne vulgaris. It was shown previously that S. aureus may play a role of causative agent in inflammatory acne. This study was performed aiming to estimate sensitivity of staphylococcal strains from acne patients towards minocycline. Group of acne 29 patients 17-31 years old with different severity grades was compared with control group of 22 volunteers of the same age. Staphylococcal microflora was obtained from face skin use the stamp method and identified by standard scheme. Sensitivity of strains to minocycline was estimated by microdilution method in DMEM medium. In both groups 5 species of staphylococci were found: S. aureus, S. epidermidis, S. haemolyticus, S. intermedius, S. saprophyticus. At that we established that S. aureus was the main species in acne group I (62%) as well as in control group (38%). From all species studied the S. epidermidis was found to be most sensitive to minocycline with median of the minimal inhibiting concentration equaling 4 µg/ml, and most resistant was S. saprophyticus – with MIC of 16 µg/ml. Sensitivity of strains of S. aureus to minocycline was higher in acne group than in controls: 39% of acne group isolates had MIC of 4 µg/ml, although 63% of control group isolates had MIC of 8 µg/ml.