The temperature dependence of porphyrin production in Propionibacterium acnes after incubation with 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) and its methyl ester (m-ALA)

Abstract

Topical PDT treatment of the common skin disease acne vulgaris is now in clinical use. Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) is known to play an important role in acne. 5-Aminolevulinic acid (ALA) supplementation leads to an enhanced porphyrin production in the bacteria. Subsequent illumination with light of the proper wavelengths can reduce the number of bacteria and this might at least partly explain the PDT effect on acne. We have assessed the effects of temperature on P. acnes washed cell suspensions incubated for 4 h with ALA or ALA methyl ester (m-ALA). The effect on porphyrin production of both the cell suspension incubation temperature as well as the initial growth temperature of the cultivated cells prior to harvesting and use in suspension experiments was investigated. The bacterial porphyrin content was estimated from fluorescence emission spectra. It was found that incubation with ALA or m-ALA at a temperature 42 °C resulted in an approx. 100% and 33% increase in the total amount of PDT-relevant porphyrins produced as compared to incubation at 37 °C. These results support increasing the skin temperature during incubation with ALA or m-ALA in the clinic. The initial growth temperature, prior to the incubation, had no apparent effect on the ALA or m-ALA induced porphyrins. Activation energy studies indicate slightly higher temperature dependence in the case of ALA produced porphyrins as compared to m-ALA produced porphyrins (77 and 65 kJ mol⁻¹, respectively).