Sunscreen And Cosmetics Compound May Harm Corals By Altering Fatty Acids And Mitochondrial Damage

Octocrylene is an organic compound used as an ingredient in cosmetics and sunscreens and protects the skin from sunburn. Didier Stien and colleagues exposed different concentration of Octocrylene on corals and reported that

1. Octocrylene was transformed into fatty acid conjugates via oxidation of the ethylhexyl chain, yielding very lipophilic OC analogues that accumulate in coral tissues.
2. Higher levels of acylcarnitines in exposed corals, suggesting abnormal fatty acid metabolism and mitochondrial dysfunction.

Journal Reference:

Didier Stien, Fanny Clergeaud, Alice M. S. Rodrigues, Karine Lebaron, Rémi Pillot, Pascal Romans, Sonja Fagervold, Philippe Lebaron. Metabolomics Reveal That Octocrylene Accumulates in Pocillopora damicornis Tissues as Fatty Acid Conjugates and Triggers Coral Cell Mitochondrial Dysfunction. Analytical Chemistry, 2018; 91 (1): 990 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.8b04187