title: Nicotelline: a proposed biomarker and environmental tracer for particulate matter derived from tobacco smoke.
abstract: Particulate matter (PM) derived from tobacco smoke contains numerous toxic substances. Since the PM and gas phase of tobacco smoke may distribute differently in the environment and substances in them may have different human bioavailability, multiple tracers and biomarkers for tobacco smoke constituents are desirable. Nicotelline is a relatively nonvolatile alkaloid present in tobacco smoke, and therefore, it has the potential to be a suitable tracer and biomarker for tobacco smoke-derived PM. We describe experiments demonstrating that nicotelline is present almost entirely in the PM, in both freshly generated cigarette smoke and aged cigarette smoke. An excellent correlation between the mass of nicotelline and the mass of the PM in aged cigarette smoke was found. We also describe experiments suggesting that the main source of nicotelline in tobacco smoke is dehydrogenation of another little-studied tobacco alkaloid, anatalline, during the burning process. We show that nicotelline metabolites can be measured in the urine of smokers and that nicotelline can be measured in house dust from homes of smokers and nonsmokers. We conclude that nicotelline should be useful as a tracer and biomarker for PM derived from tobacco smoke.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Departments of Psychiatry and Medicine, Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center, University of California , San Francisco, California 94110, United States.
authors.forename: Peyton
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.forename: Maciej L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Goniewicz
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Havel
authors.forename: Suzaynn F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Schick
authors.forename: Neal L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Benowitz
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000592:standards; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000652:urine; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000592:standards; D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry; D006207:Half-Life; D006801:Humans; D009538:Nicotine / Q000378:metabolism / Q000592:standards / Q000652:urine*; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000737:chemistry*; D010880:Piperidines / Q000737:chemistry / Q000592:standards; D011725:Pyridines / Q000737:chemistry / Q000592:standards; D012015:Reference Standards; D012907:Smoking; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D015415:Biomarkers; D004391:Dust; D005740:Gases; D052638:Particulate Matter; D010880:Piperidines; D011725:Pyridines; C493473:anatalline; D009538:Nicotine