pH influence of surfactant-induced skin irritation. A non-invasive, multiparametric study with sodium laurylsulfate

Even though various experimental methods have been proposed for in vitro testing of detergents such as LSL (sodium laurylsulfate) no absolutely relevant clinical information can be inferred from them as to the irritancy of a given compound. In particular the relative importance of pH needs further assessment. This study reports on in vivo evaluation of skin function changes under given experimental conditions with SLS applied at 3 different pH values. There is a dramatic increase of transepidermal water loss (TEWL), i.e. a substantial reduction in the barrier function of the skin, when SLS is applied under occlusion for 48 H. The alkaline control solution (NaOH pH 9) induced low-grade, but significant TEWL increases, as compared to the other controls (distilled water pH 7; HCl pH 5), which had no influence on TEWL. The changes obtained with the controls were much lower than those observed with SLS. The barrier-function changes induced by the surfactant SLS could, however, promote transepidermal passage of acid and/or alkaline molecules, hence increasing toxic damage of the skin; yet no such effects could be observed, indicating that the main effects are due to detergency. Assessment of cutaneous blood flow values (CBFV) by laser Doppler velocimetry showed increased values after SLS. When pH-adjusted SLS solutions were compared, there was neither a difference in relation to pH nor did the control solutions induce any significant CBFV change. This study reveals that TEWL and CBFV are probably the most reliable methods to investigate acute irritancy by SLS. Accordingly, pH cannot be considered as a major contributive factor of irritancy when SLS solutions are applied under occlusion (48 h).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)