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Copyright @ Pol J Cosmetol
Pol J Cosmetol 2013, 16(3): 190-195pl  Irritation potential of surfactantsJacek Arct 1/, Patrycja Niemyńska 1,2/, Sergiusz Dzierzgowski 1,2/ 1/ Wyższa Szkoła Kosmetyki i Pielęgnacji Zdrowia w Warszawie 2/ Instytut Biotechnologii, Wydział Chemiczny Politechniki Warszawskiej Summary Irritation is one of the most common reason of skin pathology. It can be caused by almost every chemical substance. Irritation potential of substances is determined by their chemical and physical properties. Surface active agents can influent on the skin by many different way. They can interact with proteins and lipids of stratum corneum. After adsorption on the skin surface, surfactants can penetrate through stratum corneum and other living layers of the epidermis. Because of further penetration they can cause damages in structure of cell membrane and release proinflammatory mediators. In this article is presented review of literature about correlation between chemical structure and irritation potential of one of the most common group of surfactants- alkyl sulphate salts. The most irritant is homologue of chain length C12. Important factor is also degree of ethoxylation - with the increase of degree of ethoxylation the irritation potential of surfactants decreases. There was discussed irritation potential of surfactants mixtures. The decrease of irritation potential of surfactants mixtures comparing to the most irritant surfactants causes increase of total concentration of surfactants. It was concluded, that there is interaction between surfactants, which cause decrease of critical micelle concentration (CMC) value and decrease of irritation potential. Another probable explanation is competition for binding surface on the skin. Effects of surfactants mixtures is not additive and it does not result from cumulative potential of their components. What is more, their irritation potential is not directly correlated with total concentration of surfactants in mixture. Key words: skin irritation, surfactants, surfactants mixtures |