Unveiling the Skin’s Volatile Secrets: VOCs, Bugs & Biofilm

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)?are carbon-containing chemical compounds with a sufficiently high vapor pressure under normal conditions to readily evaporate and enter the atmosphere. Our bodies continuously produce VOCs through metabolism, releasing them primarily via our skin, breath, feces, and urine etc. These compounds can instantly reflect physiological and pathological biochemical processes occurring within the body at the time of measurement. Any change in the metabolism equilibrium can cause an alteration of human VOC. Identifying VOCs provides a non-invasive, objective, and measurable insight into normal and abnormal metabolic pathways. It also reveals how these pathways change and respond to therapy during disease processes.

Key Points:

• Metabolism Window: VOCs offer a real-time glimpse into metabolic activity.
• Non-Invasive Potential: Diagnostic procedures using VOCs are attractive alternatives to invasive lab tests, especially for point-of-care (POC) testing.
• Cutaneous Wound Infections: Detecting VOCs in infected skin wounds could revolutionize non-invasive diagnosis.
• Analytical Technology: In the quest to unlock the secrets carried by VOCs, cutting-edge analytical methods play a pivotal role. Modern tools allow detailed quantitative analysis of VOCs and thus serve as valuable indicators of health and disease, offering a promising avenue for real-time non-invasive diagnostics.

The skin, our largest organ, harbors a hidden world of chemical communication!

Here’s how it unfolds:

1.???? Cellular Dance & VOCs:

·?????? Beneath the protective surface of the epidermis lies a network of capillaries, which facilitates the diffusion of chemical substances like VOCs that journey from within our bodies to the skin’s outer layer.

·?????? The epidermis, like a diligent, bustling city, constantly sheds thousands of cells into the environment.

·?????? These discarded cells, once vibrant and alive, now serve as carriers and carry not only our secrets but also the remnants of bodily processes—metabolism, and more.

·?????? Importantly, they transport microbes such as bacteria & fungi, these microscopic passengers like alchemists, orchestrate a delicate dance, with the dead skin cells, enveloping them in a subtle vapor cloud.

·?????? From this intricate interplay emerges a?complex profile of VOCs, tiny gaseous messengers that reveal our inner workings- our metabolic state, hormonal fluctuations, and the microbial tapestry on our skin. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28727229/

2.??? Metabolic Markers & Wounds:

·?????? VOCs emanate from cellular processes and metabolic pathways and changes in their profiles can indicate the progression of wound healing and can serve as valuable biomarkers during the healing process.

·?????? Our previous studies introduced a reproducible, non-invasive methodology applicable in the clinical settings for measuring VOCs in wounds.

·?????? It unveiled a class of biochemical markers linked to the metabolism of wounds.

·?????? But we didn’t stop there. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20492633

3.??? Biofilms & VOC Profiles:

·?????? Enter the world of bacterial biofilms—the pertinacious architects of infection.

·?????? Armed with human ex vivo skin wound models, we witnessed biofilm formation serves as a canvas for studying skin-relevant pathogenic bacteria and were able to detect VOCs generated by biofim.

·?????? Imagine a non-invasive diagnostic tool for identifying and quantifying wound infections—our goal inches closer. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29930327

4.??? Temporal Wounds Healing & VOC Insights:

·?????? Our journey continued in vivo, in volunteer human trial, where we measured VOC formation in sequentially timed acute cutaneous wounds.

·?????? We measured VOC formation, capturing the essence of skin healing in real time.

·?????? Profiling the skin’s microbiome and metabolome, we gained deeper insights into wound healing phases.

·?????? Our recent study, titled “Microbiome and Metabolomic Signature of Cutaneous Healing,” paints a vivid picture of this dynamic process. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32106276

?

·?????? In summary, in this symphony of skin, there exists a delicate interplay of cells, microbial organisms and VOCs, in which lies a treasure trove of biomarker insights that whispers telling tales and voluble accounts of health, and disease.