Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health
Abstract
Results of a comparative study of occupational exposure to toluene and xylene are presented. The study was carried out in a group of 24 workers from a paint factory and aimed to determine the most appropriate exposure indicators for use in biological monitoring. Measurements included toluene and xylene in blood and their metabolites in urine. Toluene in blood proved to be the best indicator of toluene exposure, and both xylene in blood and its only major metabolite methylhippuric acid in urine to be reliable indicators of xylene exposure, The validity of hippuric acid and o-cresol as toluene exposure indicators has not been confirmed.Proveđeno je komparativno istraživanje profesionalne izloženosti toluenu i ksilenu radi odabira najpogodnijih bioloških pokazatelja u biološkom monitoringu. Određeni su toluen i ksilen u krvi i njihovi metaboliti u urinu 24-ju radnika profesionalno izloženih toluenu i ksilenu. Toluen u krvi pokazao se najboljim pokazateljem izloženosti toluenu, dok su i ksilen u krvi i njegov glavni metabolit metilhipurna kiselina pouzdani pokazatelji izloženosti ksilenu. Vrijednosti hipurne kiseline odnosno o-krezola nisu jednoznačni pokazatelji izloženosti toluenu što je poznato iz ranijih istraživanja a potvrđeno je i našim mjerenjima
