Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin

Featured article

Volume 41 (2018) Issue 12 Pages 1853-1858

Skin Sensitization to Fluorescein Isothiocyanate Is Enhanced by Butyl Paraben in a Mouse Model

Takeshi Matsuoka, Yukina Endo, Kohta Kurohane, Yasuyuki Imai

Contact hypersensitivity (CHS) to preservatives is receiving increased attention. Parabens are widely used in foods, pharmaceutics and cosmetics as preservatives. The skin sensitizing activity of parabens remains controversial but a few investigations have been made as to whether parabens could facilitate sensitization to other chemicals. We have shown that di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), a phthalate ester, has an adjuvant effect in a fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-induced CHS mouse model. We have also demonstrated that DBP activates transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) cation channels expressed on sensory neurons. Comparative studies of phthalate esters revealed that TRPA1 agonistic activity and the adjuvant effect on FITC-CHS coincide. Here we focused on two commonly used parabens, butyl paraben (BP) and ethyl paraben (EP), as to their adjuvant effects. BALB/c mice were epicutneously sensitized with FITC in acetone in the presence or absence of a paraben. Sensitization to FITC was evaluated as the ear-swelling response after FITC challenge. BP but not EP enhanced skin sensitization to FITC, but the effect of BP was much weaker than that of DBP. Mechanistically, BP enhanced the trafficking of FITC-presenting CD11c⁺ dendritic cells (DCs) from the skin to draining lymph nodes as well as cytokine production by draining lymph nodes. When the TRPA1 agonistic activity was measured with a cell line expressing TRPA1, BP exhibited higher activity than EP. The present study provides direct in vivo evidence that BP causes sensitization to other chemicals by means of a mouse FITC-CHS model.

Editor’s picks

Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-induced contact hypersensitivity is a mouse model of skin allergy to chemicals. In this model, chemicals such as phthalate esters are known to enhance skin sensitization to FITC. The article by Matsuoka et al. demonstrated that butyl paraben (BP), a common preservative, enhances skin sensitization as revealed by ear-swelling response to FITC. Mechanistically, BP facilitates dendritic cell trafficking from skin to lymph nodes, and enhances cytokine production from lymph node cells. Their results provide direct in vivo evidence that BP, like phthalate esters, enhances sensitization to other chemicals.

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2018 Volume 41 Issue 12

Rapid Detection of Avian Influenza A Virus (H7N9) by Lateral Flow Dipstick Recombinase Polymerase Amplification Shiwei Ma, Xue Li, Bo Peng, Weihua Wu, Xin Wang, Hui Liu, Lihong Yuan, Shisong Fang, Jiahai Lu
Dietary Nitrite Attenuates Elastase-Induced Pulmonary Emphysema in a Mouse Model Kunihiro Sonoda, Kazuo Ohtake, Maya Tagiri, Miku Hirata, Hazuki Tamada, Hiroyuki Uchida, Junta Ito, Jun Kobayashi
Sema4A Responds to Hypoxia and Is Involved in Breast Cancer Progression Xiao Liu, Yinping Sun, Wei Tian, Fuli Wang, Xiao Lv, Min Wang, Tiantian Sun, Jingjing Zhang, Lin Wang, Mingyong Han
Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA) Attenuates Ischemia Reperfusion-Induced Alterations in Intestinal Immunity Atsuhito Kubota, Masaki Kobayashi, Sota Sarashina, Reiko Takeno, Genki Yasuda, Katsuya Narumi, Ayako Furugen, Natsuko Takahashi-Suzuki, Ken Iseki

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