Dandruff is Associated with Disequilibrium in the Proportion of the Major Bacterial and Fungal Populations Colonizing the Scalp

Overview

Journal PLoS One

Specialties General Medicine
Science

Date 2013 Mar 14

PMID 23483996

Citations 84

Authors

Cecile Clavaud

Roland Jourdain

Avner Bar-Hen

Magali Tichit

Christiane Bouchier

Florence Pouradier

Charles El Rawadi

Jacques Guillot

Florence Menard-Szczebara

Lionel Breton

Jean-Paul Latge

Isabelle Mouyna

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The bacterial and fungal communities associated with dandruff were investigated using culture-independent methodologies in the French subjects. The major bacterial and fungal species inhabiting the scalp subject's were identified by cloning and sequencing of the conserved ribosomal unit regions (16S for bacterial and 28S-ITS for fungal) and were further quantified by quantitative PCR. The two main bacterial species found on the scalp surface were Propionibacterium acnes and Staphylococcus epidermidis, while Malassezia restricta was the main fungal inhabitant. Dandruff was correlated with a higher incidence of M. restricta and S. epidermidis and a lower incidence of P. acnes compared to the control population (p<0.05). These results suggested for the first time using molecular methods, that dandruff is linked to the balance between bacteria and fungi of the host scalp surface.

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