2020-01-13 19:54:15
All of us have on our skin, specifically within our hair follicles, a variable number of tiny arachnids. These arachnids have received the name of mites of the face, although, since they live all over the body, they could well be called skin mites. Its scientific name is Demodex folliculorum.
D. folliculorum mites are commensal organisms that feed on skin secretions, particularly hair sebum and dead cells, but do not cause disease or apparent damage to our body. Demodex folliculorum is a really small animal, since its entire body only measures 0.3 to 0.4 mm, that is, it is just large enough to be distinguished with the naked eye as a tiny grain of dust, although without a good magnifying glass, at least, we will not be able to distinguish their bodily features. These include a small head followed by four pairs of short legs and an elongated abdomen.
Demodex folliculorum was discovered in 1841. Years later, what was initially thought to be a subspecies of this animal was discovered. It took until 1973 for the scientific community to conclude that it was another species of mite that also lived in our hair. This species was named Demodex brevis, because it is even smaller than the previous one.
A recent study has managed to compare the differences in gene activity between the two species of mites, which can help to better understand their commensal relationship with us and what happens when that relationship deteriorates and inflammatory reactions are generated against them, which lead to skin diseases.
Another recently published major study describes the development of reliable methods to extract mites from hair follicles and analyze them outside the skin. These methods include how to dissolve its shell to analyze its interior by molecular techniques that cannot otherwise be employed as the shell prevents molecules, such as antibodies, from penetrating tissues. These methods, made available to the scientific community, promise to facilitate research on these mites. However, the progress that would most facilitate research on these species of animals has not yet been achieved, such as being able to breed them outside the hair follicles to generate them at will and be able to investigate them without having to extract them from infested people. . Nor has it yet been possible to sequence the genomes of these two species of commensal mites, which would also provide valuable information about them and would perhaps facilitate the development of pharmacological methods to eradicate them when necessary. However, we will not be too surprised when these objectives are achieved, because science is one of the most tenacious activities that human beings have ever carried out.
Referencias: (1) Clanner-Engelshofen BM et al. (2019). Methods for extraction and ex-vivo experimentation with the most complex human commensal, Demodex spp. Exp Appl Acarol. 2019 Dec 13. doi: 10.1007/s10493-019-00450-9. (2). Hu L. et al (2019). De novo transcriptome sequencing and differential gene expression analysis of two parasitic human Demodex species. Parasitol Res. 2019 Dec;118(12):3223-3235. doi: 10.1007/s00436-019-06461-0.
Jorge Laborda, January 12, 2019.
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