Comparison of three analytical methods for 1-hydroxypyrene glucuronide in urine after non-occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

ABSTRACT

Urinary pyrene metabolites, 1-OHP and 1-OHPG, have been used as biomarkers for the assessment of occupational and environmental exposure to PAHs. This study compares the sensitivity and applicability of the different analytical methods of 1-OHPG for human biomonitoring of low level exposure to PAHs. Three analytical methods were compared (1) HPLC method from that reported by Singh et al. (Singh, R., Tucek, M., Maxa, K., Tenglerova, J., Weyand, E.H., 1995. A rapid and simple method for the analysis of 1-hydroxypyrene glucuronide a potential biomarker for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure. Carcinogenesis 16, 2909-2915); (2) IAC-SFS method: the rapid and simple assay using IAC purification using monoclonal antibody specific for PAH-DNA adduct and PAH metabolites and SFS quantitation; and (3) IAC-HPLC method: IAC and HPLC separation and quantitation. The correlation between the IAC-SFS method, HPLC method, and the IAC-SFS method was determined in 20 first year-grade junior high school students (age 12-13) from Yochon, Korea who participated in a nationwide survey for the environmental disease surveillance projects in Korea. Chromatograms obtained by the IAC purification and HPLC quantitation method were clear with no interfering peaks adjacent to 1-OHPG, thus 1-OHPG could be easily quantitated. However, the HPLC method produced chromatogram profiles with many interfering peaks adjacent to 1-OHPG peak. The concentrations of 1-OHPG in 20 urine samples were similar when analyzed by all three analytical methods. The correlation coefficient between the IAC-HPLC and IAC-SFS methods was 0.915, and between the IAC-HPLC and HPLC methods was 0.844, and between the IAC-SFS and HPLC methods was 0.805. The analytical methods for 1-OHPG compared in this study showed a good correlation with one another. These results suggest that any of the methods can be applied to human biomonitoring of PAH exposure. However, SFS quantitation after IAC purification is rapid and simple because this method does not need HPLC separation of 1-OHPG.