Hydrogen cyanide in the headspace of oral fluid and in mouth-exhaled breath.
Mouth-exhaled hydrogen cyanide (HCN) concentrations have previously been reported to originate from the oral cavity. However, a direct correlation between the HCN concentration in oral fluid and in mouth-exhaled breath has not been explicitly shown. In this study, we set up a new methodology to simultaneously measure HCN in the headspace of oral fluid and in mouth-exhaled breath. Our results show that there is a statistically significant correlation between stimulated oral fluid HCN and mouth-exhaled HCN (rs = 0.76, p < 0.001). This confirms that oral fluid is the main contributor to mouth-exhaled HCN. Furthermore, we observe that after the application of an oral disinfectant, both the stimulated oral fluid and mouth-exhaled HCN concentrations decrease. This implies that HCN production in the oral cavity is related to the bacterial and/or enzymatic activity.
Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, PO Box 55 (A.I. Virtasen aukio 1), University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland.
W
W
Chen
M
M
Metsälä
O
O
Vaittinen
L
L
Halonen
D000328:Adult; D001944:Breath Tests / Q000379:methods*; D004202:Disinfectants; D045853:Exhalation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006856:Hydrogen Cyanide / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009055:Mouth / Q000378:metabolism*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry*
D004202:Disinfectants; D006856:Hydrogen Cyanide