Studies on inhibitory effect of Eucalyptus oil on sebaceous glands for the management of acne

Abstract

Acne<i> </i>is the most common disorder virtually seen to affect teenagers and young adults between age of 14-30. It is characterized by inflamed specialized sebaceous follicles which are present at face, back and chest. Some serious factors responsible for generation of acne are abnormal follicular keratinization and desquamation, excessive secretion of sebum, and proliferation of <i>Propionibacterium acnes </i>in follicles. Other factors aggravating or worsening the acne conditions are secondary infections caused by some pathogenic strains of bacteria like <i>Staphylococcus</i><i> aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, </i><i>Escherichia</i> <i>coli</i>, etc<i>. </i>There are various topical and systemic therapies available in market to treat or control the acne but maximum of them have the side effects like itching, redness, skin peeling, stinging and photosensitivity. Again, the development of resistance of available antibiotics for <i>P. acne</i> and other bacterial strains has necessitated the search for new antimicrobial agents. Thus, the current work was designed to gain attention towards the alternate pathway for controlling the acne condition by decreasing the production of sebum from sebaceous glands. The eucalyptus oil, obtained from <i>Eucalyptus globulus</i> Labill. (Myrtaceae) was chosen and its biocide action on various bacterial strains was established using agar-well diffusion technique to prove its efficacy in controlling the secondary infection condition i.e. worsening of acnes. The <i>in vivo</i> rat sebaceous gland model was chosen to show the effectiveness of eucalyptus oil in decreasing the sebum production by reducing the size of sebaceous glands to control the spread of acne. The results were found to be promising for eucalyptus oil in controlling the sebum protection and thus establishing the other pathway for the management of acne.