Animal-free test for chemicals that can cause skin allergies and eczema

Chemicals cause allergic dermatitis by bonding to proteins in the skin, and then aggravating the immune system so that redness, irritation, itching, and other symptoms occur. Existing chemical tests use substances like glutathione that mimic skin proteins and bond to allergy-causing ingredients but none are able to detect the critical early stages of skin sensitization.

A new test, reported in Chemical Research in Toxicology, uses nitrobenzenethiol as the skin protein surrogate. When used on 20 different chemicals known to cause skin irritation, the test produced positive results. It produced negative results when used to test substances that usually do not produce skin sensitization. The researchers believe that such a simple, rapid and inexpensive absorbance-based method has great potential for use as a preliminary screening tool for skin allergens.

"Rapid and Simple Kinetics Screening Assay for Electrophilic Dermal Sensitizers Using Nitrobenzenethiol" American Chemical Society Chemical Research in Toxicology

Courtesy Medical News Today

March 2010

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