Alcohol and urinary 2-thiothiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid

The aim of this work was to study the effect of alcohol on the excretion characteristics of urinary 2-thiothiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid (TTCA) in people exposed to carbon disulfide (CS(2)) and in non-exposed subjects. Ten male non-exposed volunteers consumed 150, or 250 ml, of liquor (38 degrees ) and the excretion dynamics of urinary TTCA were detected by HPLC. A questionnaire and urinary TTCA analyses were conducted in 152 male workers exposed to CS(2) and 60 male controls. CS(2) concentrations at the workplace were measured by GC. Results showed that urinary TTCA levels in non-exposed volunteers reached a high peak 3 h after drinking 150 ml liquor, which returned 12 h later to the levels before drinking; TTCA levels were in accordance with the quantity of alcohol consumed. There were increasing tendency of urine TTCA levels in workers exposed to different concentrations of CS(2) (10 ppm). TTCA levels in people with drinking habits seemed higher in the non-exposed group than in the exposed group, especially in those exposed over 10 ppm. The results suggest that the consumption of liquor in large quantities may interfere with the levels of urinary TTCA. Thus, in biomonitoring of CS(2) a suitable sampling time is important to avoid a biased estimation of CS(2) exposure.