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Benzalkonium chloride induces corneal epithelial damage in lab study

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Benzalkonium chloride can damage the corneal epithelial barrier by inducing corneal epithelial dysfunction, according to an in vitro study.

Seung-Heon Cha, MD, PhD, and colleagues at Pusan National University in Korea cultured corneal epithelial cells from rabbit cornea and exposed them to 5, 10, 30 and 60 minutes of benzalkonium chloride (BAK) at several concentrations.

With longer BAK exposures and higher concentrations, more corneal epithelial cell lysis occurred. Cells showed severe damage at BAK concentrations over 0.05% during 5 minutes of exposure. Cell dysfunction appeared markedly at BAK concentrations of 0.005% for 30 minutes of exposure, but decreased with longer exposure times, the researchers said.

The study is published in the April issue of Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology.