Development of micellar reactive oxygen species assay for photosafety evaluation of poorly water-soluble chemicals

A reactive oxygen species (ROS) assay was previously developed for photosafety assessment; however, the phototoxic potential of some chemicals cannot be evaluated because of their limited aqueous solubility. The present study was undertaken to develop a new micellar ROS (mROS) assay system for poorly water-soluble chemicals using a micellar solution of 0.5% (v/v) Tween 20 for solubility enhancement. In repeated mROS assay, intra- and inter-day precisions (coefficient of variation) were found to be below 11%, and the Z′-factors for singlet oxygen and superoxide suggested a large separation band between positive and negative standards. The ROS and mROS assays were applied to 65 phototoxins and 18 non-phototoxic compounds for comparative purposes. Of all 83 chemicals, 25 were unevaluable in the ROS assay due to poor solubility, but only 2 were in the mROS assay. Upon mROS assay on these model chemicals, the individual specificity was 76.5%, and the positive and negative predictivities were found to be 93.9% and 86.7%, respectively. The mROS assay provided 2 false negative predictions, although negative predictivity for the ROS assay was found to be 100%. Considering the pros and cons of these assays, strategic combined use of the ROS and mROS assays might be efficacious for reliable photosafety assessment with high applicability and predictivity.