Nowadays, the safety of parabens as pharmaceutical preservatives is debated.\nRecent studies investigated their interference with the oestrogen receptors, nevertheless\ntheir carcinogenic activity was also proved. That was the reason why the re-evaluation\nof the biocompatibility and antimicrobial activity of parabens is required using modern\ninvestigation methods. We aimed to test the cytotoxic, antifungal and antibacterial effect of\nparabens on Caco-2 cells, C. albicans, C. parapsilosis, C. glabrata, E. coli, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus.\nTwo complex systems (glycerolâ??Polysorbate 20; ethanolâ??Capryol PGMCâ?¢) were formulated to\nstudyâ??with the MTT-assay and microdilution method, respectivelyâ??how other excipients may\nmodify the biocompatibility and antimicrobial effect of parabens. In the case of cytotoxicity, the\ntoxicity of these two systems was highly influenced by co-solvents and surfactants. The fungi\nand bacteria had significantly different resistance in the formulations and in some cases the\nexcipients could highly modify the effectiveness of parabens both in an agonistic and in a\ncounteractive way. These results indicate that with appropriate selection, non-preservative excipients\ncan contribute to the antimicrobial safety of the products, thus they may decrease the required\npreservative concentration.
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