URINARY LEVELS OF 1-HYDROXYPYRENE, 1-HYDROXYPHENANTHRENE, 2-HYDROXYPHENANTHRENE, 3-HYDROXYPHENANTHRENE, AND 4-HYDROXYPHENANTHRENE IN FEMALES LIVING IN AN INDUSTRIAL-AREA OF GERMANY

The concentrations of 1-hydroxypyrene(1-HOPYR), and 1-, 2-, 3-, and 4- hydroxyphenanthrene (HOPHE) as metabolites of pyrene and phenanthrene, were measured in urine samples collected from 124 housewives (27 smok ers and 97 nonsmokers) living in Bottrop, an industrial city located i n the Ruhr area in Germany. The urine samples were analyzed by a very sensitive and practical high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method using a two-column switching technique and a special precolumn packing material followed by fluorescence detection. The polycyclic a romatic hydrocarbon (PAH) metabolites are selectively enriched on the precolumn and separated from the matrix. Therefore, laborious clean-up steps were omitted. The above-mentioned PAH metabolites could be dete cted in all urine samples investigated. Smokers had significantly high er urine concentrations of 1-HOPYR (median 0.48 mu g/g creatinine), 3- HOPHE (median 0.61 mu g/g creatinine), 2-HOPHE (0.41 mu g/g creatinine ) and 4-HOPHE (median 0.10 mu g/g creatinine) than non-smokers (median 0.15 mu g/g creatinine, 0.31 mu g/g creatinine, 0.31 mu g/g creatinin e and 0.04 mu g/g creatinine, respectively). The study shows that the influence of smoking is of such an order of magnitude that potential e nvironmental exposure to PAH in this highly industrialized area is obs cured by smoking habits. Furthermore, it can be concluded that the det ermination of 1-HOPYR, 1-, 2-, 3-, and 4-HOPHE in urine is a diagnosti cally useful method for the biological monitoring of persons environme ntally exposed to PAH.