What causes the irritation of surfactant to mucous membrane

2022-06-29 11:09:28

The gentleness of surfactants to human skin, eyes and hair, especially to skin and eyes, is a concept that is difficult to define. Up to now, there is still no unified standard. The irritation or sensitization of surfactants to mucosa is mainly caused by three factors:

1) Dissolubility

It refers to the dissolution degree of surfactants to the skin's own moisturizing ingredients (such as moisturizing factor NMF), intercellular lipids and free amino acids and fats in the stratum corneum. The excessive dissolution of these ingredients will damage the skin oil and surface layer, reduce the skin's water retention capacity, and cause the cells to fall off into dander, resulting in skin tightness, tingling or dryness. What's more, surfactants can not only peel off cells, but also dissolve cells. For example, SDS is a very effective dissolving agent for biofilms.

2) Penetrability

It refers to the ability of surfactant to penetrate through the skin. This effect is considered to be one of the causes of various skin inflammation. The penetration of surfactants changes the original structural state of the skin and the compatibility between adjacent molecules, thus causing contact dermatitis and dermal dermatitis, causing skin irritation and even allergic reactions, causing erythema and edema on the skin. The stimulative effect of surfactants on skin and mucosa was the most significant for cations, followed by anions, and the least for non-ionic and zwitterionic surfactants.

3) Reactivity

It refers to the adsorption of surfactant on protein, causing protein denaturation and changing skin pH conditions. The results show that the reactivity of PEG non-ionic is low, while that of Las anions is high.

Surfactants are used as various processing aids or synergists in the food and pharmaceutical industries, thus increasing the contact opportunities between surfactants and human digestive tract and blood system, which puts forward strict requirements for the oral toxicity, hemolysis, heredity, carcinogenicity and teratogenicity of surfactants. Surfactants used in food and oral drugs such as liquids, tablets and pills must be low toxic or non-toxic substances; In case of intravenous or intramuscular injection, attention must be paid to the hemolysis of surfactant; For long-term use, it is necessary to consider the genetic, cancerous degeneration, teratogenicity and other problems that may be caused by it.