Hydrocarbons such as xylene, hexadecane and heptane may be absorbed topically. - GreenMedInfo Summary
In vivo percutaneous absorption, skin barrier perturbation, and irritation from JP-8 jet fuel components.
Drug Chem Toxicol. 2003 May;26(2):135-46. PMID: 12816398
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota 58105, USA.
JP-8 jet fuel has been reported to cause systemic and dermal toxicities in animal models and humans. There is a great potential for human exposure to JP-8. In this study, we determined percutaneous absorption and dermal toxicity of three components of JP-8 (i.e., xylene, heptane, and hexadecane) in vivo in weanling pigs. In vivo percutaneous absorption results suggest a greater absorption of hexadecane (0.43%) than xylene (0.17%) or heptane (0.14%) of the applied dose after 30 min exposure. Transepidermal water loss (TEWL) provides a robust method for assessing damage to the stratum corneum. Heptane showed greater increase in TEWL than the other two chemicals. No significant (p<0.05) increase in temperature was observed at the chemically treated site than the control site. Heptane showed greater TEWL values and erythema score than other two chemicals (xylene and hexadecane). We did not observe any skin reactions or edema from these chemicals. Erythema was completely resolved after 24 h of the patch removal in case of xylene and hexadecane.
