Regulate vaginal flora

It can be said that bacteria are an unavoidable topic in the human body. It does not mean that bacteria will cause harm to the human body. The key is whether the bacterial microecological flora can achieve a dynamic balance. From a female perspective, a balanced vaginal microecological flora can avoid some gynecological diseases. This is also an important issue why many women excessively clean their vaginas, which can easily induce gynecological diseases. Let us learn more about this aspect.

Vaginal microflora

On the surface of the human body and in the cavities that communicate with the outside world, there live microorganisms that are harmless to the human body, commonly known as normal microbial flora or normal flora. It is beneficial and harmless to the human body and is necessary. During the long-term evolution process, through adaptation and natural selection, different species of normal flora, normal flora and hosts, and normal flora, hosts and the environment are always in a dynamic equilibrium, forming a system of interdependence and mutual restraint.

Normal vaginal flora

The normal flora in the vagina is the core content of vaginal microecology research. In 1892, Dederlein published the first study on the human vaginal microbiome. The vaginal flora of healthy women has been found to be composed of a variety of anaerobic and aerobic bacteria. As many as 29 kinds of microorganisms have been isolated from vaginal secretions, the most important of which is Lactobacillus, which has an isolation rate of 50% to 80% in vaginal discharge specimens of healthy women. It has been determined that the microbial community colonizing the normal vagina is mainly composed of bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses, which mainly live in the folds of the side wall mucosa of the vagina, followed by the fornix, and partly in the cervix. The bacteria mainly include Gram-positive aerobic bacteria and facultative anaerobes, Gram-negative aerobic bacteria and facultative anaerobes including Escherichia coli. Under normal conditions, the ratio of anaerobic bacteria to aerobic bacteria in the vagina is 5:1, and the two are in a dynamic equilibrium. In addition, there are some pathogens, such as active Campylobacter, Mycoplasma and Candida.

In the normal vaginal flora, Lactobacillus predominates. Lactobacillus is a Gram-positive large bacillus that is microaerophilic, but grows better in an anaerobic environment. The optimal growth temperature is 35-38°C, and each gram of vaginal secretions contains 107-108 CFU of Lactobacillus. More than 20 types of lactobacilli can be isolated from the vagina of healthy women. The lactobacilli that normally exist in the vagina play a key role in maintaining the normal vaginal flora. The glycogen in the squamous epithelial cells of the vagina is broken down into lactic acid by lactobacilli, forming a weakly acidic environment in the local vagina (pH ≤4.5, mostly between 3.8 and 4.4), which can inhibit the excessive growth of other parasitic bacteria. In addition, lactobacilli prevent the adhesion of pathogenic microorganisms to vaginal epithelial cells through a substitution, competitive exclusion mechanism. At the same time, the secretion of hydrogen peroxide, bacteriocins, bacteriocin-like substances and biosurfactants inhibits the growth of pathogenic microorganisms, thereby maintaining the balance of the vaginal microecological environment.