Patch test materials for mercury allergic contact dermatitis.
The objective of this study was to define adequate patch test materials to evaluate mercury allergic contact dermatitis. We applied 0.1% and 0.05% mercuric chloride, and 0.5% and 0.2% mercury in petrolatum to systemic eczematous contact-type dermatitis (baboon syndrome), and gold-dermatitis patients. All baboon-syndrome patients reacted not only to mercuric chloride but also to metallic mercury. In gold-dermatitis patients, significantly more patients reacted to mercuric chloride than to metallic mercury (21 of 35, 60%, versus 2 of 19, 10.5%, p < 0.0005). We speculated that sensitization to mercury may be of 2 types: one a reaction to ionized mercury only, the other to both ionized mercury and non-ionized mercury. The possibility that the phenomenon is caused by differences in bioavailability or percutaneous penetration between ionized and non-ionized mercury cannot be ruled out, but could be explored by penetration measurement. For the evaluation of mercury hypersensitivity, it may be more reliable to apply both ionized and non-ionized mercury, rather than only mercuric chloride or ammoniated mercury.
Nakada
T
T
Department of Dermatology, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Higo
N
N
Iijima
M
M
Nakayama
H
H
Maibach
H I
HI
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D017449:Dermatitis, Allergic Contact / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D005148:Facial Dermatoses / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D017612:Gold Compounds / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008627:Mercuric Chloride / Q000009:adverse effects; D008628:Mercury / Q000009:adverse effects*; D017669:Mercury Compounds / Q000009:adverse effects; D010328:Patch Tests / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013577:Syndrome
D017612:Gold Compounds; D017669:Mercury Compounds; C038016:gold chloride; D008627:Mercuric Chloride; D008628:Mercury