Determination of hemoglobin adducts of arylamines in humans

Aromatic amines and nitroarenes are important occupational and environmental pollutants. It is therefore essential to have fast and reliable methods to monitor human exposure. In rat experiments it has been shown that several arylamines form hydrolyzable hemoglobin adducts. Hemoglobin adducts are dosimeters for the internal dose and possibly for DNA modification at the site of tumor formation. In the present paper we introduce a new efficient method to quantify hemoglobin adducts. Precipitated hemoglobin was hydrolyzed in base in the presence of the recovery standards d5-aniline, d4-2-methylaniline, d4-3-methylaniline, d4-4-methylaniline, d3-2,4-dimethylaniline, 13C6-4-chloroaniline, d9-4-aminobiphenyl, and 4'-fluoro-4-aminobiphenyl. The hydrolysate was extracted with hexane, derivatized with pentafluoropropionic anhydride (PFPA) and analyzed by GC-MS with negative chemical ionization. In one run over twenty amines can be determined. The method has been applied to human studies.