A. Weston et Esk. Assem, POSSIBLE LINK BETWEEN ANAPHYLACTOID REACTIONS TO ANESTHETICS AND CHEMICALS IN COSMETICS AND BIOCIDES, Agents and actions, 41, 1994, pp. 30000138-30000139
Binding-inhibition studies involving human IgE antibody to suxamethoni
um, SUX (from a patient with a near-fatal reaction), were performed wi
th five different quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC): three common in
gredients of cosmetics and two commonly used disinfectants, cetrimide
and benzalkonium. All the five QAC showed immunological cross-reaction
with SUX. In addition, at high concentrations, they released histamin
e from basophils of normal subjects. Thus, QAC may be both sensitizers
and histamine releasers.