Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – @ParkstBrett
We normally have a small amount of salt on our skin and a new study suggests that this salt layer may be there as a protective agent against infection.
Published online Tuesday by the journal Cell Metabolism, the new study found that salt stores in mice and humans may be a barrier that acts to prevent microbial invasion and boost immune defenses.
“This is a totally different view on the role of salt in health and disease,” said study author Dr. Jens Titze, an associate professor of medicine and of molecular physiology and biophysics at Vanderbilt University.
An as-salt on infections
The new study started when researcher noticed that salt levels in mice with infected skin were unusually high. The team then theorized that skin might use salt build up to fight off infections.
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Confirming Jantsch’s theory, the researchers found that salt did boost the activity of infection-fighting white blood cells. Using MRI technology, the team also saw salt build-up at the site of bacterial skin infections in six human patients.
“(I)nfected legs showed massive salt accumulation, while the uninfected legs were totally normal,” Titze said.
After patients were treated with antibiotics, the salt levels in their legs fell, the study reported.
But don’t start eating Doritos for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, yet (sigh)
The scientists also tested the consequence of a very high-salt diet in mice with chronic footpad infections. The team watched as salt supplies at the location of the infection jumped after intake of the high-salt diet, and the bacterial infections disappeared.
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Despite the positive results, researchers warned that a high-salt diet should not be seen as a healthy regular routine.
“I think that the most important finding here is that tissues can accumulate massive amounts of sodium locally to boost immune responses where ever needed,” Titze said. “This mostly happens totally independent of the diet.”
“This novel biology of salt homeostasis goes beyond the idea that dietary salt is the major component that influences the salt levels in our body,” he added.
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In fact, the team said, the advent of antibiotics and other effective treatment methods means that we no longer need high levels of salt in our tissues.
“Chronic accumulation of salt in the tissue thus may have become rather a problem than an advantage,” Titze said.
Another problem with aging
The same group of researchers had previously reported before that salt build-up by the skin rises with age and is linked with the introduction of hypertension, which also becomes standard as people age.
“It was a mystery to us why our human subjects accumulated that much salt in their body as they aged, because high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease is clearly a disadvantage,” Titze said.
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The new study implied that age-related salt accumulation by the skin may be a response to falling cellular barriers and rising microbe accessibility. It also may reflect persistent, low-level inflammation connected with age-related diseases, including heart disease and some cancers.
In this case, it may be helpful to combat age-related increase in salt stores, the researchers suggested.
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