Acute toxicity and ecological risk assessment of 4,4'-dihydroxybenzophenone, 2,4,4'-trihydroxybenzophenone and 4-MBC in ultraviolet (UV)-filters

PLoS One. 2021 Apr 8;16(4):e0249915. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249915. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Ultraviolet (UV) filters are used in cosmetics, personal care products and packaging materials to provide sun protection for human skin and other substances. Little is known about these substances, but they continue to be released into the environment. The acute toxicity of 4,4'-dihydroxybenzophenone, 2,4,4'-trihydroxybenzophenone and 4-MBC to Chlorella vulgaris and Daphnia magna were analyzed in this study. The 96 h-EC50 values of 4,4'-dihydroxybenzophenone, 2,4,4'-trihydroxybenzophenone and 4-MBC on C. vulgaris were 183.60, 3.50 and 0.16874 mg/L, respectively. The 48 h-LC50 of 4,4'-dihydroxybenzophenone, 2,4,4'-trihydroxybenzophenone and 4-MBC on D. magna were 12.50, 3.74 and 0.54445 mg/L, respectively. The toxicity of a mixture of 4,4'-dihydroxybenzophenone and 4-MBC showed addictive effect on C. vulgaris, while the toxicity of mixtures of 4,4'-dihydroxybenzophenone and 2,4,4'-trihydroxybenzophenone, 2,4,4'-trihydroxybenzophenone and 4-MBC as well as 4,4'-dihydroxybenzophenone, 2,4,4'-trihydroxybenzophenone and 4-MBC all showed antagonistic effect on C. vulgaris. The induced no-effect concentrations of 4,4'-dihydroxybenzophenone, 2,4,4'-trihydroxybenzophenone and 4-MBC by the assessment factor (AF) method were 0.0125, 0.00350 and 0.000169 mg/L, respectively.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Benzophenones / chemistry
  • Benzophenones / toxicity*
  • Camphor / analogs & derivatives*
  • Camphor / chemistry
  • Camphor / toxicity
  • Chlorella vulgaris / drug effects
  • Chlorella vulgaris / growth & development*
  • Daphnia / drug effects
  • Daphnia / growth & development*
  • Drug Synergism
  • Molecular Structure
  • Sunscreening Agents / chemistry
  • Sunscreening Agents / toxicity
  • Toxicity Tests, Acute

Substances

  • Benzophenones
  • Sunscreening Agents
  • Camphor
  • enzacamene

Grants and funding

Liwei-Sun received the National Key Research and Development Program-China (2018YFC1803100)(URL: https://service.most.gov.cn/). Yong-Ze Lu received Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20180409) (URL: https://service.most.gov.cn/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.