Blood acetone concentration in “normal people” and in exposed workers 16 h after the end of the workshift

✍ Scribed by Guangzu Wang; Graziano Maranelli; Luigi Perbellini; Emanuele Raineri; Francesco Brugnone

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 497 KB
• Volume: 65
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0340-0131
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00405690

✦ Synopsis

Acetone levels were measured by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in environmental and alveolar air, blood and urine of 89 non-occupationally exposed subjects and in three groups of workers exposed to acetone or isopropanol Acetone was detected in all samples from non-exposed subjects, with mean values of 840 tg/l in blood (Cb), 842 gg/l in urine (Cu), 715 ng/l in alveolar air (Ca) and 154 ng/l in environmental air (Ci). The ninety-fifth percentiles were 2069 ltg/l in Cb, 2206 gig/l in Cu and 1675 ng A/ in Ca The blood/air partition coefficient of acetone was 597 Correlations were found in Cb, Cu and Ca In specimens sampled at the end of the workshift from subjects occupationally exposed to acetone, a correlation was found in the blood, urine, alveolar and environmental air concentrations The blood/air partition coefficient of acetone was 146 On average, the blood acetone levels of workers were 56 times higher than the environmental exposure level, and the concentration of acetone in alveolar air was 27 % more than that found in inspiratory air The half-life for acetone in blood was 5 8 h in the interval of 16 h between the end of the workshift and the morning after The morning after a workshift with a mean acetone exposure of 336 gg/l, blood and urinary levels were 3 5 mg/l and 13 mg/l, respectively, which were still higher than those found in "normal" subjects It can be concluded that endogenous production of acetone and environmental exposure to acetone or isopropanol do not affect the reliability of biological monitoring of exposed workers, even 16 h after low exposure.