Quantification of 1-hydroxypyrene, 1- and 2-hydroxynaphthalene, 3-hydroxybenzo[a]pyrene and 6-hydroxynitropyrene by HPLC-MS/MS in human urine as exposure biomarkers for environmental and occupational surveys.

CONTEXT: Several urinary PAHs metabolites can be detected by HPLC-MS/MS for individual exposure assessment.

OBJECTIVE: Quantitation of urinary metabolites of four PAHs, selected on the basis of their significance, with reduced costs and high sensitivity.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: HPLC-MS/MS was used and pure standards and isotope-labeled internal analogs of the analytes. Two hundred samples were tested after enzymatic hydrolysis.

RESULTS: Accuracy was higher than 90% and variability lower than 19%; LODs permit to measure 1-hydroxypyrene, 1 and 2-hydroxynaphthalene in all subjects, 6-hydroxynitropyrene in the 65% and 3-hydroxybenzo[a]pyrene in the 70%.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The method is suitable both for occupational and for environmental studies. This is the first paper reporting urinary levels of 6-hydroxynitropyrene in European subjects, nonoccupationally exposed to nitro-PAHs.