Article pubs.acs.org/crt
Exposure and Kinetics of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Cigarette Smokers Gideon St.Helen,† Maciej L. Goniewicz,‡ Delia Dempsey,§ Margaret Wilson,§ Peyton Jacob, III,§ and Neal L. Benowitz*,†,§,∥ †
Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco, California, United States Tobacco Dependence Research Unit, Queen Mary University of London, London, U.K. § Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Medical Service, San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center, University of California, San Francisco, California, United States ∥ Department of Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences, Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Medical Service, San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center, University of California, San Francisco, California, United States ‡
ABSTRACT: Our study objectives were (1) to investigate the selectivity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) metabolites for tobacco smoke exposure and (2) to determine half-lives of PAH metabolites in smokers. There were 622 participants from the United States (US) and Poland, and of these, 70% were smokers. All subjects provided spot urine samples, and 125 smokers provided blood samples. Urinary PAH metabolite half-lives were determined in 8 smokers. In controlled hospital studies of 18 smokers, the associations between various measures of nicotine intake and urinary excretion of PAH metabolites were investigated. Plasma nicotine was measured by GC. LC-MS/MS was used to measure the plasma levels of cotinine and trans-3′-hydroxycotinine, and urine levels of nicotine and its metabolites, total 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol (NNAL) and PAH metabolites (2-naphthol, 1-, 2-, and 3-hydroxyfluorenes, 1-, 2-, 3-, and 4hydroxyphenanthrenes, and 1-hydroxypyrene). Regardless of smoking status, PAH metabolite excretion was higher in Polish subjects than in US subjects (p-values
