Urinary acetonitrile concentrations correlate with recent smoking behaviour.

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health
• Analytical Chemistry
• Toxicology

Background:

• Cigarette smoke exposure can be monitored through ambient air or in vivo tests.
• Acetonitrile in exhaled breath is a quantitative marker of recent smoking behavior.
• Urinary acetonitrile offers a potential non-invasive measure of smoking exposure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify urinary acetonitrile concentrations in habitual cigarette smokers and non-smokers.
• To establish a correlation between daily cigarette consumption and urinary acetonitrile levels.
• To evaluate proton-transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) as a method for assessing smoking behavior.

Main Methods:

• 101 volunteers (smokers and non-smokers) were recruited, with urine samples collected.
• Urine samples were analyzed within 24 hours using proton-transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS).
• Subjects were categorized into five groups based on daily cigarette intake.

Main Results:

• Non-smokers had a mean urinary acetonitrile level of 3.74 (1.78) parts per billion volatile (ppbv).
• Acetonitrile concentrations in urine significantly increased with the number of cigarettes smoked daily.
• Very heavy smokers (>30 cigarettes/day) exhibited the highest mean urinary acetonitrile levels, up to 28.04 (5.38) ppbv.

Conclusions:

• Proton-transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) provides a rapid, non-invasive method for measuring urinary acetonitrile.
• Urinary acetonitrile serves as a reliable marker for recent active and passive smoking, useful for compliance checks.
• Further research is needed to explore the link between urinary acetonitrile and bladder cancer risk, given smoking's known association.