Effect of chain length and branching on the in vitro metabolism of a series of parabens in human liver S9, human skin S9, and human plasma

Parabens are antimicrobial compounds used as preservatives in cosmetics, foods, and pharmaceuticals. Paraben exposure occurs through a variety of routes including dermal absorption, ingestion, and inhalation. Ester bond hydrolysis has been shown to be the predominant biotransformation for this chemical class. Here we evaluated a series of parabens of increasing alkyl chain length and branching in addition to the aryl side chain of phenyl paraben (PhP). We evaluated the parabens under full Michaelis-Menten (MM) parameters to obtain intrinsic clearance values and found different trends between human liver and skin, which correlate with the predominant esterase enzymes in those matrices, respectively. In liver, where carboxylesterase 1 (CES1) is the predominant esterase enzyme, the shorter chain parabens were more readily metabolized, while in skin, where carboxylesterase 2 (CES2) is the predominant esterase enzyme, the longer chain parabens were more readily metabolized. Alkyl chain branching reduced the hydrolysis rates relative to those for the straight chain compounds, while the addition of a phenyl group, as in PhP, showed an increase in hydrolysis, producing the highest observed hydrolysis rate for skin. These data summarize the structure-metabolism relationship for a series of parabens and contribute to the safety assessment of this class of compounds.

Automated summary

The study evaluated a series of parabens with different alkyl chain lengths and branching, as well as the aryl side chain of phenyl paraben, showing different metabolic trends between human liver and skin. Shorter chain parabens were more readily metabolized in the liver where carboxylesterase 1 is the predominant esterase enzyme, while longer chain parabens were more readily metabolized in the skin where carboxylesterase 2 is predominant.