There are several ways by which BAs

There are several ways by which BAs hinder microbial survival. First, BAs can promote protein misfolding, nucleic acid damage and impaired intra-cellular metabolism by inducing strong oxidative stress in the bacterial cells (Merritt and Donaldson 2009). Also, as a consequence of their extremely lipophilic steroid ring, BAs are able to directly alter and damage the lipid structure of the bacterial membrane (Kurdi et al. 2006). Finally, toxic unconjugated BAs can easily pass through the microbial membranes, promoting cytoplasmic acidification, and suppressing bacterial bio-energetic processes (Sánchez et al. 2013). Interestingly, beside the ability to directly induce antibacterial pathways,BAs have the potential to affect bacterial survival by activating host FXR-signaling pathways (Inagaki et al. 2006).It has been shown that, upon BA activation, FXR stimulatesentero-protective genes and moderates intestinal bacterialovergrowth in mice. That BAs can be bactericidal has beenfurther validated by the usage of BA-based solutions to treatbacterial infections of the eyes (Harrison et al. 2015). In addition, BAs have been found to eliminate microbial infections in an animal model of chronic wound