Distribution of ethylene oxide in human blood and its implications for biomonitoring

The distribution of radioactivity following the incubation of human blood with radio-labelled ethylene oxide was investigated in vitro. After incubation, the individual blood samples were separated into lymphocytes and high (Mr greater than 10,000) and low (Mr less than 10,000) molecular fractions of erythrocyte cytoplasm and blood plasma. The radioactivity was determined in each sample by liquid scintillation counting. In erythrocyte cytoplasm, the distribution of radioactivity showed marked interindividual differences and two distinct groups could be distinguished. The coincidence of these groups with 'conjugators' and 'non-conjugators', in terms of the enzymatic conjugation of methyl halides to glutathione in erythrocytes, suggests a common principle, such as enzyme polymorphism. Such polymorphism has been described for glutathione S-transferase mu in the human liver, an enzyme that efficiently conjugates epoxides. In the other blood compartments, the interindividual differences were either less significant or were not detectable. Binding products with various macromolecules in blood, such as haemoglobin or lymphocyte DNA, are being discussed as biological monitors for occupational exposure to ethylene oxide. The observation that erythrocytes exhibit interindividual differences as described above make binding products with haemoglobin less suitable for biological monitoring of ethylene oxide exposure than, for example, DNA adducts in lymphocytes.