The Microbiome of Meibomian Gland Secretions from Patients with Internal Hordeolum Treated with Hypochlorous Acid Eyelid Wipes.

OBJECTIVE: The aims of our experiment were to compare the microorganisms in meibomian gland secretions from patients with internal hordeolum before and after treatment using hypochlorous acid eyelid wipes, to elucidate the mechanism underlying hypochlorous acid eyelid wipe treatment of internal hordeolum. METHODS: This was a prospective, matched-pair study. A total of eight patients with internal hordeolum who attended the ophthalmology clinic of our hospital from April to August 2020 were included. Meibomian gland secretions were collected from subjects before treatment (Group A) and from patients cured after eyelid cleaning with hypochlorous acid eyelid wipes for 7 days (Group B). Samples were submitted to 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing, and the resulting data were analyzed to compare the differences in the structure and composition of meibomian gland secretion microbial flora before and after treatment of internal hordeolum. RESULTS: A total of 2127 operational taxonomic units were obtained from the two groups of samples, and there was no significant difference in alpha diversity before and after eyelid cleaning. At the phylum level, there was no significant difference between the two groups. The predominant phyla in Group A included the following: Firmicutes (32.78% ± 20.16%), Proteobacteria (26.73% ± 7.49%), Acidobacteria (10.58% ± 11.45%), Bacteroidetes (9.05% ± 6.63%), Actinobacteria (8.48% ±1.77%), and Chloroflexi (3.15% ± 3.12%), while those in Group B were the following: Proteobacteria (31.86% ± 9.69%), Firmicutes (29.07% ± 24.20%), Acidobacteria (11.33% ± 7.53%), Actinobacteria (7.10% ± 1.98%), Bacteroidetes (5.39% ± 5.17%), and Chloroflexi (3.89% ± 3.67%). Starting from the class level, significant differences in microbial communities were detected before and after eyelid cleaning (P < 0.05). Linear discriminant analysis effect size analysis showed the core flora in Group A microbiome comprising Actinobacteria, Staphylococcus, Staphylococcaceae, Staphylococcus aureus, Ruminococcacea UCg-014, Ruminococcacea-UCG-014, Halomonadaceae, Neisseria, Methylobacterium, Frankiales, and Neisseria sicca, while those in Group B microbial were Streptococcus sp., Blautia, Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum, Subdoligranulum, Subdoligranulum variabile, Faecalibacterium, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. CONCLUSION: Eyelid cleaning with hypochlorous acid eyelid wipes does not change the biodiversity in the meibomian gland secretions of patients with internal hordeolum. Hypochlorous acid eyelid wipes may affect the internal hordeolum through broad-spectrum antibacterial action to effectively reduce the relative abundance of symbiotic pathogens, such as Staphylococcus, Neisseria, Actinomycetes, and Ruminococcus and increase that of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and other symbiotic probiotics with anti-inflammatory effects.

Indigestible pyrodextrins prepared from corn starch in the presence of glacial acetic acid.

This study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of using acetic acid (0-2.5%) as the catalyst in the production of pyrodextrins from corn starch at 140-180 °C, and to elucidate the effects of catalyst concentration and pyrolytic temperature on the characteristics of indigestible pyrodextrins. In the absence of acetic acid, noticeable changes to the loss of birefringence, increased solubility, plateau of molecular weight reduction, decreased reducing sugar content and digestibility were observed at 180 °C. By using catalyst, the alterations in the aforementioned characteristics of pyrodextrins were intensified. Moreover, by using 0.5-1.0% catalyst, the substantial alterations in birefringence, solubility and molecular weight were observed concurrently for pyrodextrins formed at 170 °C. Further increasing the concentration of acetic acid to 1.0-2.5% decreased the intervening temperature to 160 °C. The findings suggest that indigestible pyrodextrins with desired characteristics could be tailored via using various combinations of catalyst concentration and pyrolytic temperature.