Trace amines produced by skin bacteria accelerate wound healing in mice

Abstract

Certain skin bacteria are able to convert aromatic amino acids (AAA) into trace amines (TA) that act as neuromodulators. Since the human skin and sweat contain a comparatively high content of AAA one can expect that such bacteria are able to produce TA on our skin. Here we show that TA-producing Staphylococcus epidermidis strains expressing SadA are predominant on human skin and that TA accelerate wound healing. In wounded skin, keratinocytes produce epinephrine (EPI) that leads to cell motility inhibition by β2-adrenergic receptor (β2-AR) activation thus delay wound healing. As β2-AR antagonists, TA and dopamine (DOP) abrogate the effect of EPI thus accelerating wound healing both in vitro and in a mouse model. In the mouse model, the S. epidermidis wild type strain accelerates wound healing compared to its ΔsadA mutant. Our study demonstrates that TA-producing S. epidermidis strains present on our skin might be beneficial for wound healing.