Assessing the antimicrobial activity of essential oils against skin microorganisms using flow cytometry

• Author(s): Lopes, Ana I. ; Oliveira, Cláudia S. ; Pintado, Manuela E. ; Tavaria, Freni K.
• Date: 2025
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/53340
• Origin: Veritati - Repositório Institucional da Universidade Católica Portuguesa
• Document Type: Conference poster not in proceedings
• Language: English
• Contributor(s): Veritati

Description

The skin microbiome, composed of bacteria like Staphylococcus spp. and Cutibacterium acnes and fungi such as Candida spp. and Malasseziaspp., plays a key role in skin health (Byrd et al., 2018). Dysbiosis, or microbial imbalance, is linked to conditions like acne and dermatitis (Egert etal., 2017). While conventional treatments, such as anti-inflammatory drugs and antimicrobials, can help, they may disrupt the microbiome andpromote resistance (Sfriso et al., 2020).Natural alternatives like essential oils (EOs) are gaining attention due to their terpene-rich composition, which targets multiple microbial structuresand reduces resistance risk (Zuzarte et al., 2011). Flow cytometry offers a precise method to assess antimicrobial effects by distinguishing livefrom dead cells through fluorescent staining (Shapiro, 2003).