Genotoxic potential evaluation of a cosmetic insoluble substance by the micronuclei assay

An optical brightener (OB) powder (INCI: sodium silicoaluminate (and) glycidoxypropyl trimethyloxysilane/PEI-250 cross fluorescent brightener 230 salt (and) polyvinylalcohol crosspolymer) that is used in cosmetic facial products was tested for its genotoxic potential using the micronuclei test (MNT). It is a solid dry powder with an average size of 5 microns that is insoluble but dispersible in water. This study describes the exposure of cell culture to positive controls with and without enzymatic activation and to the test compound in different concentrations. We evaluated three end points: microscopic observation and quantification of micronuclei formation, and cell viability and proliferation. Both positive controls induced significant changes that were observed under the microscope and quantified. Based on its chemical nature, it was not anticipated that the test substance will degrade under the conditions of the experiments. However, the test is required to make sure that when solublized, impurities that may be present, even at trace levels, will not induce a genotoxic effect. The test compound did not promote micronuclei formation or change the viability or proliferation rate of cells. During this study we faced challenges such as solubilization and correlating viability data to genotoxicity data. These are described in the body of the paper. We believe that with the emergence of the 7(th) European amendment that bans animal testing, sharing these data and the study protocol serves as a key in building the understanding of the utilization of in vitro studies in the safety assessment of cosmetic ingredients.