Dolfini, E., Cassina, E., Lavazza, M., and Meloni, M. The In Vitro Cytotoxicity of Cosmetic Compounds on Three Human Immortalised Cell Lines. ATLA. 1999. 27: 344.

Polysorbate 60 – 09005-67-8

The aim of our study was to establish predictive and selective methods to evaluate the cytotoxic activity of cosmetic compounds (Dolfini et al. In Vitro Toxicology 10, 2-8, 1997). We focused our study on surfactants with different chemical structures (non-ionic, polymeric, amphoteric, etc.), their irritant potencies and the percentages of active substances in the commercial products. The compounds tested were: sodium laureth sulphate 25% a.s., polysorbate 60, decylglucoside 55% a.s., sodium cocoaamphoacetate 32% a.s., polyoxyethylene polyoxypropylene copolymer M.W. 12000, and polyoxyethylene polyoxypropylene copolymer M.W. 2100. Three human immortalised cell lines were used: keratinocytes (NCTC 2544), Chang conjunctive (WKD) and fibroblasts (WI 38). Our biological parameters evaluated the process of cell membrane adhesiveness because of the relevance of this cellular target in each cytotoxic evaluation of cosmetic compounds. Each compound was tested at concentrations from 28 ug/ml to 1000 ug/ml for 24 hours. From our date, sodium laureth sulfate 25% a.s., polysorbate 60, decylglucoside 55% a.s. and sodium cocoamphoacetate 32% a.s. showed a strong cytotoxic activity (50% or more of cellular destruction) starting from 180-200 ug/ml, and polyoxyethylene polyoxypropylene copolymer M.W. 12000 and polyoxyethylene polyoxypropylene copolymer M.W. 2100 did not show any cytotoxicity at each dose tested. The three cell lines show the same sensitivity to all compounds tested, and are good alternative models for evaluating cytotoxic activity instead of using animals. Other experiments are in progress for evaluating the cytotoxic activity on three-dimensional cell culture (multicellular spheroids).