[Irritation and allergy to acrylates and methacrylates. - Part I: Common monoacrylates and monomethacrylates (author's transl)].

Acrylates and methacrylates are industrial chemicals with insufficiently known irritating and allergenic effects. In this paper, the simple monoacrylates and monomethacrylates are considered. Methyl acrylate is an irritant, giving a reaction in 10 out of 30 patients, when tested at 20 p. 100 in olive oil. It is also an allergen (2 out of 22 cases). Because of its irritating properties, the concentration of 2 p. 100 is proposed for allergeric investigations. Methyl methacrylate, at 20 p. 100 in olive oil, is not an irritant for humans, although we have observed a sensitization rate of about 15 p. 100 with an undiluted product. In animal studies (technic of Kligman and Magnusson), 10 p. 100 of the subjects reacted to a working concentration of 1 p. 100 in petrolatum (allergenicity degree II). A risk of sensitization due to test repetition exists, about 9 p. 100 and 15 p. 100 for methyl acrylate (20 p. 100) and undiluted methyl methacrylate, respectively. For the latter, sensitization appears around the 16 th-18th day and may be preceeded by an irritation (1 out of 3 cases). Allyl acrylate and allyl methacrylate are irritants which should be studied at a concentration of about 0,1 p. 100. A 5 p. 100 concentration in olive oil seems appropriate for studying allergies to the following monoacrylates and monomethacrylates: acrylamide and acrylonitrile, n-butyl, cyclohexyl, ethyl, ethyl-2-hexyl, ethoxy-2-ethyl, phenyl acrylates, cyclohexyl dodecyl, ethyl-2-hexyl, ethoxy-2-ethyl, methyl methacrylates.