Abstract
Didecyldimethylammonium chloride (DDAC) is an antimicrobial agent used as a preservative in household products. DDAC is toxic in human lung cells and in mouse lung. Aerosol products that contain DDAC often include ethylene glycol (EG) as a solvent; no safety information is available for respiratory toxicity of this combination (DDAC and EG). Human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) were exposed (24 h) to DDAC and EG, separately or together. DDAC showed concentration-dependent cytotoxicity. EG did not affect cell viability. Compared to DDAC alone, EG and DDAC together enhanced mitochondrial damage and cell membrane disruption. Increased reactive oxygen species and decreased glutathione levels were seen in cells treated with the combination. Intracellular DDAC concentrations were elevated in the presence of EG. EG potentiated DDAC toxicity in lung cells by inducing oxidative stress through enhanced cellular uptake of DDAC. The use of these chemicals together in spray-type products should be carefully considered.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Wessels, S. & Ingmer, H. Modes of action of three dis-infectant active substances: a review. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol 67:456–467 (2013).
Ioannou, C. J., Hanlon, G. W. & Denyer, S. P. Action of disinfectant quaternary ammonium compounds aga-inst Staphylococcus aureus. Antimicrob Agents Che-mother 51:296–306 (2007).
Dejobert, Y. et al. Contact dermatitis from didecyldi-methylammonium chloride and bis-(aminopropyl)-la-uryl amine in a detergent-disinfectant used in hospital. Contact Dermatitis 37:95–96 (1997).
Geier, J., Lessmann, H., Krautheim, A. & Fuchs, T. Airborne allergic contact dermatitis caused by didecyl-dimethylammonium chloride in a geriatric nurse. Con-tact Dermatitis 68:123–125 (2013).
Kwon, J. T., Kim, H. M., Kim, P. J. & Choi, K. H. Di-decyldimethylammonium chloride induces oxidative stress and inhibits cell growth in lung epithelial cells. Mol Cell Toxicol 10:41–45 (2014).
Ohnuma, A. et al. Didecyldimethylammonium chloride induces pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis in mice. Exp Toxicol Pathol 62:643–651 (2010).
Ohnuma, A. et al. Didecyldimethylammonium chloride induces pulmonary fibrosis in association with TGF-β signaling in mice. Exp Toxicol Pathol 65:1003–1009 (2013).
Park, K. H., Rhu, C. J. & Kim, Y. S. in Risk assess-ment for hazardous substances contained in consumer products (National Institute of Environmental Research, Incheon, Korea, 2012).
Porter, W. H. Ethylene glycol poisoning: quintessen-tial clinical toxicology; analytical conundrum. Clin Chim Acta 413:365–377 (2012).
Wills, J. H. et al. Inhalation of aerosolized ethylene glycol by man. Clin Toxicol 7:463–476 (1974).
Carstens, J., Csanády, G. A., Faller, T. H. & Filser, J. G. Human inhalation exposure to ethylene glycol. Arch Toxicol 77:425–432 (2003).
Upadhyay, S. et al. Inhalation and epidermal exposure of volunteers to ethylene glycol: kinetics of absorption, urinary excretion, and metabolism to glycolate and oxalate. Toxicol Lett 178:131–141 (2008).
Yoshimatsu, T. & Hiyama, K. Mechanism of the action of didecyldimethylammonium chloride (DDAC) against Escherichia coli and morphological changes of the cells. Biocontrol Sci 12:93–99 (2007).
Kirkham, P. & Rahman, I. Oxidative stress in asthma and COPD: antioxidants as a therapeutic strategy. Pha-rmacol Ther 111:476–494 (2006).
Mena, S., Ortega, A. & Estrela, J. M. Oxidative stress in environmental-induced carcinogenesis. Mutat Res 674:36–44 (2009).
Wu, G. et al. Glutathione metabolism and its implica-tions for health. J Nutr 134:489–492 (2004).
Liu, R. M. & Gaston Pravia, K. A. Oxidative stress and glutathione in TGF-β-mediated fibrosis. Free Radic Biol Med 48:1–15 (2010).
Leonarduzzi, G. et al. The lipid peroxidation end pro-duct 4-hydroxy-2,3-nonenal up-regulates transforming growth factor β1 expression in the macrophage linea-ge: a link between oxidative injury and fibrosclerosis FASEB J 11:851–857 (1997).
Bellocq, A. et al. Reactive oxygen and nitrogen inter-mediates increase transforming growth factor-beta1 release from human epithelial alveolar cells through two different mechanisms. Am J Respir Cell Mol Bio 21:128–136 (1999).
Zhao, W. et al. Oxidative stress mediates cardiac fibro-sis by enhancing transforming growth factor-beta1 in hypertensive rats. Mol Cell Biochem 317:43–50 (2008).
Gomi, M., Osaki, Y., Mori, M. & Sakagami, Y. Syner-gistic bactericidal effects of a sublethal concentration of didecyldimethylammonium chloride (DDAC) and low concentrations of nonionic surfactants against Sta-phylococcus aureus. Biocontrol Sci 17:175–181 (2012)
Lian, F. & Wang, X. D. Enzymatic metabolites of lyco-pene induce Nrf2-mediated expression of phase II de-toxifying/antioxidant enzymes in human bronchial epi-thelial cells. Int J Cancer 123:1262–1268 (2008).
Bradford, M. M. A rapid and sensitive method for the quantitation of microgram quantities of protein utiliz-ing the principle of protein-dye binding. Anal Biochem 72:248–254 (1976).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kwon, D.Y., Kim, E., Kwon, JT. et al. Ethylene glycol potentiated didecyldimethylammonium chloride toxicity in human bronchial epithelial cells. Mol. Cell. Toxicol. 11, 161–166 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13273-015-0014-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13273-015-0014-6