Biological Effects Of Surfactants

Understanding the role of aquatic biota and the impact of pollution and chemical substances that enter aquatic ecosystems is crucial to the assessment, prevention, and remediation of damaged environments. Biological Effects of Surfactants synthesizes the most important findings from hundreds of articles and the author's current experiments on the b

This work focuses on the environmental availability and effects, toxicological properties and numerous applications of cationic surfactants, detaling the modern analytical processes by which this important class of compounds may be studied. It discusses the types of microorganisms that are susceptible or refractory to the actions of cationic agents.

The book summarizes and reviews the environmental and human safety of two classes of nonionic surfactants-alcohol ethoxylates (AE) and alkylphenol ethoxylates (APE). This unique resource contains critical data from published sources as well as from unpublished studies submitted by Soap and Detergent Association member companies. It reviews information on product chemistry and analysis, biodegradation, environmental levels (including fate and distribution), aquatic toxicity, and human safety. Recently developed analytical techniques for the extraction, separation, detection, and measurement of nonionic surfactants and their metabolites in environmental samples are described. Results of biodegradation studies performed with a variety of test systems are tabulated, as are results of field studies at wastewater treatment plants. Reported comparisons of environmental levels with results of acute and chronic aquatic toxicity tests are provided. The information on the toxicity and irritation potential of AE and APE surfactants includes data from in vitro, mammalian, and human studies.

"Second Edition provides a thorough, up-to-date treatment of the fundamental behavior of surface active agents in solutions, their interaction with biological structures from proteins and membranes to the stratum corneum and epidermis, and their performance in formulations such as shampoos, dentifrice, aerosols, and skin cleansers."

In to days market, custom formulated surfactants are offered for a wide range of applications. The need for surfactants in detergents, cleaning agents, cosmetics & toiletries is second only to an expanding demand in industrial applications. But even within the non-industrial areas the demands have undergone significant changes in recent years. For example, washing and cleaning temperatures have substantially decreased with increased energy conservation attitudes, and more stringent regulatory requirements in the area of ecology and toxicology are leading to new product profiles. New manufacturing technologies and an increased utilization of natural raw materials also factor into this continuing evolution. These changes and trends have been described in numerous publications. However, a summary and survey of these developments is currently missing. The book presented here "Surfactants in Consumer Products" is intended to close this gap. The editor and authors dedicate this work to Dr. Dr. h.c. Konrad Henkel on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Dr. Henkel, himself a scientist and industrialist, contributed signifi cantly to developments in the surfactant field. In the nineteen-fifties, he initiated the change from soap based detergents to synthetic detergents within Henkel. At the same time, dishwashing detergents utilizing various synthetic surfactants were also developed, and became the basis for modem manual and mechanical dishwashing.

The second installment of the multivolume Handbook of Detergents deals with the potential environmental impact of detergents as a result of their production, formulation, usage, consumption, and disposal. This volume forms a comprehensive treatise on the multidimensional issues involved and emphasizes the alignment of scientific knowledge with the

Techniques in the Behavioral and Neural Sciences, Volume 12: Neglected Factors in Pharmacology and Neuroscience Research: Biopharmaceutics, Animal Characteristics, Maintenance, Testing Conditions can be used as reference in the improvement of test designs for biochemists and physiologists in the control of test conditions. The book is divided into five sections. The introduction deals with the uncertainty of animal characteristics and test conditions as hindrances to the development of general insight into biological regulatory mechanism. The first section discusses biopharmaceutics — the interaction of drugs when interacting with molecules or enzymes in sufficient concentration at a specific site of action. The second section reviews animal characteristics in terms of strain differences, sex differences, and changes during development and aging of the subject. The third section discusses the maintenance of experimental animals such as housing conditions, food composition, and water intake as these kinds of environmental factors may shape the phenotype and responsiveness of the experimental animal. The fourth section explains the testing conditions such as metabolic effects and drug interactions, anesthesia, stress, and even the effects on circadian rhythms. The last section is a discussion on the importance of experimental results. This section covers internal and external validities and statistical inference. The author concludes that the design of any experiment should include a power analysis so that reliable and valuable conclusions can follow. Biochemists, physiologists, pharmacokineticists, toxicologists, chemical researchers, and others for whom drugs are their main focus of study will find this book valuable.