title: Quantification of 2-hydroxyfluorene in human urine by column-switching high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.
abstract: A high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for the quantification of 2-hydroxyfluorene (2-OHF) in normal human urine was established using deuterated 2-hydroxyfluorene (2-OHF-d9) as an internal standard with column-switching and fluorescence detection. The 2-OHF-d9 was synthesized by the metabolism of deuterated fluorene with cytochrome P450. The analytes were cleaned up on an ODS pre-column, via column-switching, and separated on an alkylamide-type reversed phase column. The internal standard eluted immediately prior to non-deuterated 2-OHF on the HPLC system and had nearly the same fluorescence characteristics as the non-deuterated 2-OHF. The detection limit was 0.03 nmol l(-1) (S/N = 3) and the calibration range of urine sample was from 0.2 to 50 nmol l(-1). The urine sample treatment involved enzymatic hydrolysis followed by solid phase extraction using a Sep-Pak C18 cartridge. 2-OHF was observed in the form of conjugates such as glucuronide and/or sulfate in human urine, and urinary metabolites were completely hydrolyzed for 2 h with beta-glucuronidase/aryl sulfatase. The proposed method was used to determine urinary 2-OHF in smokers and non-smokers, and showed that the urinary concentrations of 2-OHF in smokers were significantly higher than those in non-smokers (P < 0.01). Thus, the data suggest that urinary 2-OHF might be a sensitive and specific biological marker for the assessment of the exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Kanazawa University, 13-1, Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-0934, Japan. toriba@p.kanazawa-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Toriba
authors.forename: Thaneeya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chetiyanukornkul
authors.forename: Ryoichi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kizu
authors.forename: Kazuichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hayakawa
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000652:urine; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D005449:Fluorenes / Q000652:urine*; D006801:Humans; D012907:Smoking
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D005449:Fluorenes; C477779:2-hydroxyfluorene