HEMOGLOBIN ADDUCTS OF ACRYLAMIDE AND ACRYLONITRILE IN LABORATORY WORKERS, SMOKERS AND NONSMOKERS

Acrylamide is a chemical which is extensively used in research laborat ories for the preparation of polyacrylamide gels for electrophoresis ( PAGE). Blood samples were collected from laboratory personnel who were working with PAGE, from smokers, and from nonsmokers. Hemoglobin addu cts of acrylamide, acrylonitrile, and ethylene oxide were determined u sing the modified Edman degradation procedure. Acrylamide adducts were detected in all persons. The PAGE workers (mean 54 pmol/g) had a sign ificantly increased adduct level compared to nonsmoking controls (mean 31 pmol/g). The acrylamide adducts in smokers (mean 116 pmol/g) corre lated with the number of cigarettes smoked per day. This confirms the presence of acrylamide in tobacco smoke and shows that it is an import ant source of acrylamide exposure. The increased level of acrylamide a dducts in the PAGE workers corresponds to an uptake of acrylamide from about 3 cigarettes per day. It is not possible from this study to dra w any conclusion as to which step in the working procedure is most cri tical for exposure. The PAGE workers are probably not at risk for neur otoxic damage to the peripheral nervous system. However, it needs to b e investigated whether the exposure to acrylamide in PAGE workers repr esents a risk for genotoxic and reproductive effects. The high backgro und of acrylamide adducts in nonsmoking controls was unexpected. The o rigin of this background is not known. Acrylonitrile adducts were belo w the detection limit (<2 pmol/g) in nonsmoking controls. In the smoke rs (mean 106 pmol/g) this adduct correlated with cigarettes/day and wi th ethylene oxide adducts. Acrylonitrile adducts could be a better ind icator of tobacco smoking than ethylene oxide adducts since the latter are showing a background of endogenous origin.