ACUTE IRRITANT REACTIVITY TO SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE IN ATOPICS AND NON-ATOPICS

Predictive testing of chemicals to assess their acute skin irritation potential is an important part of the assessment of their toxicologica l profile. It is possible, where safety and ethical considerations can be met, to do this work in groups of human volunteers. Previously, th e relative responsiveness of atopics and non-atopics has been evaluate d. The results showed that atopics (defined broadly by high IgE reacti vity) were a little more susceptible to skin irritation, but not signi ficantly so. In the present work, the relative reactivity of a skin at opic group versus a non-atopic group was examined in more detail. Sodi um lauryl sulfate (SLS) was applied at a range of concentrations and e xposure times, such that a fairly constant degree of skin irritation w as produced. At various time points, the irritation response was measu red by visual assessment, chromametry, laser Doppler flowmetry and tra nsepidermal water loss. Using all of the methods of assessment, the re actions in atopics were similar to or a little less than those seen in non-atopics. The conclusion is that atopics and non-atopics will give similar results in a predictive human test for acute skin irritation. Furthermore, the pattern of response obtained from short duration exp osure should be predictive of that following longer durations of (sing le) exposure.