Urinary BTEX, MTBE and naphthalene as biomarkers to gain environmental exposure profiles of the general population
Articolo
Data di Pubblicazione:
2010
Citazione:
Urinary BTEX, MTBE and naphthalene as biomarkers to gain environmental exposure profiles of the general population / S. Fustinoni, F. Rossella, L. Campo, R. Mercadante, P.A. Bertazzi. - In: SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT. - ISSN 0048-9697. - 408:14(2010), pp. 2840-2849. [10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.03.017]
Abstract:
The aim of this work was to evaluate urinary benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m+p-xylene, o-xylene (BTEX),
methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE), and naphthalene (NAP) as biomarkers of
exposure to environmental pollutants. Personal air and urine samples from 108 subjects belonging to the
Italian general population were compared. Urinary profiles were obtained by headspace gas chromatography–
mass spectrometry. BTEX, MTBE, ETBE and NAP median airborne exposures during a 5-h sampling
were 4.0, 25.3, 3.8, 9.3, 3.4, 3.4, b0.8, and 3.4 μg/m3, respectively. Meanwhile, median urinary levels, as
geometric means of three determinations were: 122, 397, 74, 127, 43, 49, b15, and 46 ng/L, respectively.
Urinary benzene and toluene concentrations were 4.6- and 1.2-fold higher in smokers than in non-smokers.
For most chemicals, significant positive correlations between airborne exposure (log-transformed) and the
corresponding biological marker (log-transformed) were found, with Pearson''s r values for correlation,
ranging from 0.228 to 0.396. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the urinary level of these
chemicals was influenced by personal airborne exposure, urinary creatinine, and urinary cotinine, with R2
0.733 for benzene. Urinary chemicals are useful biomarkers of environmental exposure. Given the ease of
rapidly obtaining urine samples, they represent a non-invasive alternative to blood chemical analysis. The
possibility of obtaining urinary exposure profiles makes this method an appealing tool for environmental
epidemiology.
Tipologia IRIS:
01 - Articolo su periodico
Keywords:
Benzene; Biomarkers; BTEX; Environmental exposure; General population; MTBE; Naphthalene; Urine
Elenco autori:
S. Fustinoni, F. Rossella, L. Campo, R. Mercadante, P.A. Bertazzi
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