Risk Assessment of Triclosan Using Animal Cell Lines

Abstract

Triclosan is an antimicrobial ingredient used in many health-care products and household items including plastics, textiles and food packaging materials. However, the safety of triclosan has been questioned recently. In this study, cytotoxicity of triclosan to BHK-21, Vero and KB cells were performed by incubating these cells in culture medium containing various concentrations of triclosan for 3 days. Vero and KB cells were more sensitive and suitable as models to evaluate triclosan toxicity. The 50% inhibition concentration (IC₅₀) of triclosan to Vero and KB were at 0.036 and 0.034 mM, respectively, while that of BHK-21 was at higher concentration (0.26 mM). Analyzing for triclosan content in popular use of personal health-care products revealed the maximum triclosan content at 0.27 % (w/w) or 0.023 mM in liquid facial soap. Genotoxicity analysis based on comet assay demonstrated the DNA breakage by triclosan. Its genotoxic potency was significantly increased as the triclosan concentration and the exposure time increased. Exclusion of cell death or cytotoxicity, the genotoxic effect of triclosan in this study could be observed noticeably at the IC_20-30 of triclosan after 5 days treatment. Therefore, animal cell lines could be used for primary evaluation on the risk assessment of triclosan.