{"title":"Harmful beauty – Temporal profile of urinary phthalate metabolites in tattooed volunteers from Slovakia","authors":"Branislav Kolena , Natália Prochácková , Henrieta Hlisníková , Miroslava Nagyová , Ida Petrovičová","doi":"10.1016/j.toxlet.2025.06.005","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Tattoos are becoming increasingly popular, but tattoo inks often contain harmful chemicals such as phthalates, which are endocrine disruptors. The study aimed to biomonitoring of phthalate metabolites. Seven tattooed subjects were recruited; 24-hour urine samples were collected over five consecutive days. High molecular weight phthalates (HMWP) and low molecular weight phthalates (LMWP) were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC MS/MS), and metabolite profiles were analyzed before and after the tattoo session. Tattoo characteristics and consumer behaviours (CSB) were evaluated. Peak concentrations were observed in 48.94 % of urine samples for LMWP and 47.27 % for HMWP, particularly on or after the tattoo day. Mono-hydroxy-iso-nonyl phthalate (OH-MiNP) concentrations were significantly higher in subjects with colored tattoos (p = 0.029). A positive correlation was observed between mono-iso-nonyl phthalate (MiNP) and tattoo size (r = 0.875, p = 0.010). OH-MiNP (r = 0.759, p = 0.048, Day 1), mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP, r = 0.767, p = 0.044, Day 5) and mono(2-ethyl-5-carboxypentyl) phthalate (cx MEPP, r = 0.755, p = 0.05, Day 5) were associated with CSB. Tattooing could be a potential source of phthalate exposure, tattoo size, and ink color could play a role. The small sample size of subjects may have influenced the possibility of false positive results.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23206,"journal":{"name":"Toxicology letters","volume":"410 ","pages":"Pages 96-106"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Toxicology letters","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378427425001079","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"TOXICOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Tattoos are becoming increasingly popular, but tattoo inks often contain harmful chemicals such as phthalates, which are endocrine disruptors. The study aimed to biomonitoring of phthalate metabolites. Seven tattooed subjects were recruited; 24-hour urine samples were collected over five consecutive days. High molecular weight phthalates (HMWP) and low molecular weight phthalates (LMWP) were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC MS/MS), and metabolite profiles were analyzed before and after the tattoo session. Tattoo characteristics and consumer behaviours (CSB) were evaluated. Peak concentrations were observed in 48.94 % of urine samples for LMWP and 47.27 % for HMWP, particularly on or after the tattoo day. Mono-hydroxy-iso-nonyl phthalate (OH-MiNP) concentrations were significantly higher in subjects with colored tattoos (p = 0.029). A positive correlation was observed between mono-iso-nonyl phthalate (MiNP) and tattoo size (r = 0.875, p = 0.010). OH-MiNP (r = 0.759, p = 0.048, Day 1), mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP, r = 0.767, p = 0.044, Day 5) and mono(2-ethyl-5-carboxypentyl) phthalate (cx MEPP, r = 0.755, p = 0.05, Day 5) were associated with CSB. Tattooing could be a potential source of phthalate exposure, tattoo size, and ink color could play a role. The small sample size of subjects may have influenced the possibility of false positive results.