Objective: Quaternary ammonium compounds, among which benzalkonium chloride is one of the best-known, are commonly used as antiseptics,
disinfectants, detergents and preservatives. They can cause occupational asthma, which however, has been rarely reported so
far, despite wide use of these products. We report three such cases. Possible mechanisms causing asthma are discussed, taking
into account their characteristics. Methods and results: Our patients, all female nurses, manifested asthma symptoms upon handling disinfectant solutions containing benzalkonium
chloride. Work-related fall in PEFR was observed in all of them. The diagnosis was confirmed by challenge tests where the
patients were exposed, in a closed chamber, to suspected disinfectant contained in a tray. All of the women developed early
or delayed symptoms upon exposure. Similar challenge tests to placebo or other disinfectants devoid of quaternary ammonium
compound were negative. Conclusion: These three cases, in addition to others reported in the literature, point out an as yet poorly known etiology of occupational
asthma to quaternary ammonium compounds in hospital employees. The exact mechanism of the action remains unexplained.
Received: 20 October 1999 / Accepted: 25 March 2000 相似文献
Benzalkonium chloride (BAC) is a bacteriostatic agent used in the pharmaceutical industry as a preservative. BAC is a mixture of alkylbenzyldimethylammonium chlorides, the three most important of which being those with alkyl substituents C12, C14, C16 at the quaternary ammonium salt.
The purpose of this study was to develop a method for determining benzalkonium chloride identity and content in aerosol preparations in which protein or steroid hormones are the active components. The high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was used for this purpose. In the performed comparison of the influence of selected factors on the process of the separation of BAC homologues, a column with packing modified with cyan groups and mobile phase containing 0.075 M acetate buffer with acetonitrile (45:55), in an isocratic elution, was used for qualitative and quantitative determinations and for method validation. The developed method may be used for the assessment of the identity and content of BAC homologues in various pharmaceutical preparations. It is simple and it does not require particular sample preparation for the tests. It is characterized by good selectivity and high precision of the determinations. 相似文献
The PVC membrane selective electrode for benzalkonium bromide was studied. It is based on the use of benzalkonium tetraphenylborate ion pair complex as the active material. The PVC membrane electrode showed Nernstian response over the concentration range from 10-3 mol/L to 5×10-6mol/L with a slope of 53~57 mV/pC, and the detection limit was found to be 3×10-6 mol/L. The electrode showed rapid response and good reproducibility. The selectivity coefficients of 16 substances were determined. Using direct potentiometric determination, the recovery of pure benzalkonium bromide was 101.8%. The present method is more rapid and simpler than the volumetric method given in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. 相似文献
ObjectiveTo explore the safety and efficacy of eye drops without benzalkonium chloride (BAK) in treating glaucoma and ocular hypertension.MethodsThe clinical case-control literatures about eye drops without BAK treating glaucoma and ocular hypertension were retrieved in PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane and Chinese Biological and Medical database. Meta 5.0 software was used to analyze the literatures.ResultsFive clinical control studies were included. The results indicated both eye drops could lower the intraocular pressure, and the intraocular pressure-lowering difference between two eye drops was 0.07 mmHg (95% CI: 0.04, 0.19) (P>0.05). Two adverse reactions occurred more were conjunctival injection (10.78%) and allergic conjunctivitis (4.78%). The odd ratio of two eye drops occurring conjunctival injection and allergic conjunctivitis was 0.67 (95% CI, 0.25, 1.10) and 0.82 (95% CI, 0.09, 1.54), respectively (P<0.05) in fixed effect model.ConclusionsThere is no difference between the eye drops with or without BAK in lowering intraocular pressure, but the latter is of higher safety. In consideration of the relatively small sample size of this research, more high-quality clinical research contrasts are needed as evidence. 相似文献