Parabens

The text on this page is taken from an equivalent page of the IEHIAS-project.

Parabens are chemicals used as preservatives in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry. Animal tests show weak oestrogenic activity

Parabens as biomarkers

Matrix:

Non-invasive matrices include urine and skin, with a high potential for hair as a matrix.
Breast tissue is only available for the study of breast cancer cases.

Kinetics:

Uptake of parabens mainly takes place through the skin

Sampling conditions:

Urine and hair samples are taken and stored using routine methods

Analytical aspects:

Generally, chemical analysis includes HPLC/MS or GC/MS methods

Performance characteristics:

Recovery estimates from the extraction procedure for breast cancer tissue gave an average recovery of around 50%.
No information is available on inter- and intralaboratory variability.

Validation:

No internationally recognized validation schemes

Confounding factors:

Because the major source of parabens is through cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, use patterns are extremely important factors

Concentrations reported in literature:

	Benzyl-paraben	Isobutyl-paraben	n-Butyl-paraben	n-Propyl-paraben	Ethyl-paraben	Methyl-paraben	Total paraben
Mean (SEM) ng/g (in breast cancer tissue)	0,0 (0,0)	0,9 (0,4)	2,3 (1,0)	2,6 (0,9)	2,0 (0,5)	12,8 (2,2)	20,6 (4,2)

Dose-response/effect relationships:

No clear dose-response relations are available for humans

Time trend, geographical variation, susceptibel groups:

No information is available