earticle

영어

Toluene (methyl benzene) is a widely used organic solvent in many different industry areas. However, it is frequently inhaled by drug abusers, especially in younger generation because of it’s acute effects like excitement or euphoria followed by CNS depression. Inhaled toluene is mostly excreted as hippuric acid, the major metabolite of toluene in urine. Hippuric acid is originated from dietary sources, so it lacks the necessary specificity as a biomarker of toluene. Whereas, -cresol is a minor constituent of urine, But for its less in fluence by background contributions, it is considered as a good biomarker of toluene sniffer. We developed an appropriate method of simultaneous analysis for toluene and -cresol by Head-space GC/FID. Urine was hydrolyzed by incubation in 2N-HCl at 100℃ for 10, 30 and 60 min. In Head-space GC/FID, toluene and o-cresol were detected at 6.553 min & 19.178 min. As hydrolysis time increased, the more detected toluene concentrations in toluene sniffer’s urines were decreased. But -cresol concentrations were detected highest in urine which was hydrolyzed for 30 min.