Abstract
The validity of two new biological exposure markers of toluene in blood (TOL-B) and toluene in urine (TOL-U) was examined in comparison with that of the traditional marker of hippuric acid in urine (HA-U) in 294 male workers exposed to toluene in workroom air (TOL-A), mostly at low levels. The exposure was such that the geometric mean for toluene was 2.3 ppm with a maximum of 132 ppm; the workers were also exposed to other solvents such as hexane, ethyl acetate, styrene, and methanol, but at lower levels. The chance of cutaneous absorption was remote. Higher correlation with TOL-A and better sensitivity in separating the exposed workers from the nonexposed subjects were taken as selection criteria. When workers exposed to TOL-A at lower concentrations (< 50 ppm, < 10 ppm, < 2 ppm, etc.) were selected and correlation with TOL-A was examined, TOL-B showed the largest correlation coefficient which was significant even at TOL-A of < 1 ppm, whereas correlation of HA-U was no longer significant when TOL-A was < 10 ppm. TOL-U was between the two extremes. The sensitivities of TOL-B and TOL-U were comparable; HA-U showed the lowest sensitivity. Thus, it was concluded that TOL-B is the indicator of choice for detecting toluene exposure at low levels.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (1991) Documentation of the threshold limit values and biological exposure indices, 6th edn, vol 3. ACGIH, Cincinnati, BEI169-174.
American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (1993) 1993–1994 threshold limit values for chemical substances and physical agents and biological exposure indices. ACGIH, Cincinnati
Angerer J (1985) Occupational chronic exposure to organic solvents. XII. o-Cresol excretion after toluene exposure. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 56:323–328
Antoine SR, DeLeon IR, O'Dell-Smith RM (1986) Environmentally significant volatile organic pollutant in human blood. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 36:364–371
Apostoli P, Brugnone F, Perbellini L, Cocheo V, Bellomo ML, Silvestri R (1982) Biomonitoring of occupational toluene exposure. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 50:153–168
Brugnone F, Perbellini L, Apostoli P, Locatelli M, Mariotto P (1983) Decline of blood and alveolar toluene concentration following two accidental human poisonings. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 53:157–165
Brugnone F, DeRosa E, Perbellini L, Bartolucci GB (1986) Toluene concentrations in the blood and alveolar air of workers during the workshift and the morning after. Br J Ind Med 43:56–61
De Rosa E, Brugnone F, Bartolucci GB, Perbellini L, Bellomo ML, Gori GP, Sigon M, Corona PC (1985) The validity of urinary metabolites as indicators of low exposures to toluene. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 56:135–145
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (1993) List of MAK and BAT values 1993. Verlag Chemie, Weinheim
Foo SC, Phoon WO, Khoo NY (1988) Toluene in blood after exposure to toluene. Am Ind Hyg Assoc J 49:255–258
Ghittori S, Imbriani M, Pezzagno G, Capodaglio E (1987) The urinary concentration of solvents as a biological indicator of exposure: proposal for the biological equivalent exposure limit for nine solvents. Am Ind Hyg Assoc J 48:786–790
Gill R, Hatchett SE, Osselton MD, Wilson HK, Ramsey JD (1988) Sample handling and storage for quantitative analysis of volatile compounds in blood: the determination of toluene by headspace gas chromatography. J Anal Toxicol 12:141–146
Hajimiragha H, Ewers U, Brockhaus A, Boettger A (1989) Levels of benzene and other volatile aromatic compounds in the blood of non-smokers and smokers. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 61:513–518
Hasegawa, Y, Shiojima S, Koizumi A, Ikeda M (1983) Hippuric acid and o-cresol in the urine of workers exposed to toluene. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 52:197–208
Hirayama T, Ikeda M (1979) Applicability of carbon felt to the dosimetry of solvent vapor mixture. Am Ind Hyg Assoc J 40:1091–1096
Huang M-Y, Jin C, Liu Y-T, Li B-H, Qu Q-S, Uchida Y, Inoue O, Nakatsuka H, Watanabe T, Ikeda M (1994) Independent metabolism of toluene and xylenes in solvent workers exposed to toluene-xylene mixture vapors at low concentrations. Occup Environ Med 51:42–46
Inoue T, Takeuchi Y, Hisanaga N, Ono Y, Iwata M, Ogata M, Saito K, Sakurai H, Hara I, Matsushita T, Ikeda M (1983) A nationwide survey on organic solvent components in various solvent products. Part 1. Homogeneous products such as thinners, degreasers and reagents. Ind Health 21:175–183
Inoue O, Seiji K, Watanabe T, Kasahara M, Nakatsuka H, Yin S-N, Li G-L, Cai S-X, Jin C, Ikeda M (1988) Mutual metabolic suppression between benzene and toluene in man. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 60:15–20
Inoue O, Seiji K, Kawai T, Watanabe T, Jin C, Cai S-X, Chen Q-S, Qu Q-S, Zhang T, Ikeda M (1993) Excretion of methylhippuric acid in urine of workers exposed to xylene mixture; comparison among three xylene isomers and toluene. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 64:533–539
Jackson S (1966) Creatinine in urine as an index of urinary excretion rate. Health Phys 12:843–850
Japan Association of Industrial Health (1993) Recommended occupational exposure limits. Jpn J Ind Health 35:323–345
Japan Association of Industrial Health (1994) Rationale for recommended occupational exposure limit for toluene (in Japanese). Jpn J Ind Health 36:267–273
Kawai T, Yasugi K, Mizunuma K, Horiguchi S, Hirase Y, Uchida Y, Ikeda M (1991) Methanol in urine as a biological indicator of occupational exposure to methanol vapor. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 63:311–318
Kawai T, Yasugi K, Mizunuma K, Horiguchi S, Iguchi H, Uchida Y, Iwami O, Ikeda M (1992a) Comparative evaluation of urinalysis and blood analysis as means of detecting exposure to organic solvents at low concentrations. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 64:223–234
Kawai T, Yasugi T, Mizunuma K, Horiguchi S, Morioka I, Miyashita K, Uchida Y, Ikeda M (1992b) Monitoring of workers exposed to a mixture of toluene, styrene and methanol vapours by means of diffusive air sampling, blood analysis and urinalysis. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 63:429–435
Kumai M, Koizumi A, Saito K, Sakurai H, Inoue T, Takeuchi Y, Hara I, Ogata M, Matsushita T, Ikeda M (1983) A nation-wide survey on organic solvent components in various solvent products. Part 2. Heterogeneous products such as paints, inks and adhessives. Ind Health 21:185–197
Löf A, Hansen SH, Näslund P, Steiner E, Wallen M, Hjelm EW (1990) Relationship between uptake and elimination of toluene and debriquin hydroxylation polymorphism. Clin Pharmacol Ther 47:412–417
Löf A, Hjelm EW, Lundmark B-O, Noström A, Sato A (1993) Toxicokinetics of toluene and urinary excretion of hippuric acid after human exposure to 2H8-toluene. Br J Ind Med 50:55–59
Nise G (1992) Urinary excretion of o-cresol and hippuric acid after toluene exposure in rotogravure printing. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 63:377–381
Rainsford SG, Lloyd Davies TA (1965) Urinary excretion of phenol by men exposed to benzene: A screening test. Br J Ind Med 22:21–26
Szadkowski D, Pett R, Angerer J, Manz A, Lehnert G (1973) Chronische Lösungsmittelbelastung am Arbeitsplatz. II. Schadstoffspiegel im Blut und Metabolitenelimination im Harn in ihrer Bedeutung als Uberwachungskriterien bei toluolexponierten Tiefdruckern. Int Arch Arbeitsmed 31:265–276
Tardif R, Laparé S, Plaa GL, Brodeur J (1991) Effect of simultaneous exposure to toluene and xylene on their respective biological exposure indices in humans. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 63:279–284
Uchida Y, Kawai T, Yasugi T, Ikeda M (1990) Personal monitoring sampler for acetone. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 44:900–904
Ukai H, Takada S, Inui S, Imai Y, Kawai T, Shimbo S, Ikeda M (1994) Effects on health and metabolism after occupational exposure to solvent mixtures. Occup Environ Med 51:523–529
Wang G, Maranelli G, Perbellini L, Guglielmi G, Brugnone F (1993) Reference values for blood toluene in the occupationally nonexposed general population. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 65:201–203
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kawai, T., Mizunuma, K., Yasugi, T. et al. Toluene in blood as a marker of choice for low-level exposure to toluene. Int. Arch Occup Environ Heath 66, 309–315 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00378363
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00378363