Release of Dithiocarbamates into Sweat from Natural Rubber Latex Surgical Gloves

Abstract

Abstract The release of zinc dialkyldithiocarbamates from a batch of surgical gloves into the sweat of human subjects was studied. Healthy volunteers from both sexes were asked to don the gloves on both hands for 1 h. The identification and estimation of dithiocarbamate residues released into the sweat were carried out using thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The thin layer chromatogram showed that zinc diethyldithiocarbamate (ZDEC) accelerator residues were released into the sweat of volunteers. The estimation by high performance liquid chromatography revealed that the amount of ZDEC released varied among the human subjects despite using the same brand of glove. The effect of sweat rate and pH on the amount of ZDEC released into hand sweat was investigated. The results indicated that it may not be possible to derive a relationship between the sweat-extractable ZDEC and sweat rate or pH of hand sweat. The dithiocarbamate release was studied in the laboratory using a physiologically simulated medium, namely, artificial sweat at different pH levels. The glove was filled with artificial sweat and extracted for 1 h at 37 °C. It was found that amount of artificial sweat-extractable ZDEC varied with changes in pH of artificial sweat. Lack of a clear relationship between the sweat-extractable ZDEC and sweat rate or pH of hand sweat indicated that factors such as hand exercise, glove-fit, etc., may also be considered when simulating actual use conditions in vitro.