Synergistic antibacterial effects of probiotic lactic acid bacteria with curcuma longa rhizome extract as synbiotic against cutibacterium acnes

Abstract

Acne is a chronic inflammatory skin disease induced by Cutibacterium acnes. Recently, the effects of probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics have been researched for the treatment of skin diseases in humans. However, the synbiotic effect of probiotics and prebiotic Curcuma longa rhizome extract (CLE) on C. acnes remains ambiguous. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the synergistic antibacterial activities of probiotic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) with CLE as a synbiotic against C. acnes. Agar well diffusion assays were performed to determine the inhibitory effects of each combination of one of five Lactobacillus sp. with CLE as synbiotics against C. acnes KCTC 3314. Among them, the comparison between the average diameters of inhibition zones showed that the synbiotic combination of Lactobacillus acidophilus A001F8 and CLE significantly increased the inhibition zone diameters against C. acnes, compared to the use of Lactobacillus acidophilus A001F8 or CLE alone (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the synbiotics of probiotic LAB and CLE showed synergistic antibacterial effects against C. acnes, suggesting therapeutic potential for this synbiotic combination in the development of cosmetics or medicine against C. acnes.