8th Turkish Society of Toxicology Congress, Antalya, Türkiye, 15 - 18 Kasım 2012, ss.76
Hippuric acid in urine is a worldwide used biomarker for the diagnosis and biomonitorization of occupational exposure to toluene. Especially, in non-hygienic conditions like the lack of workplace air monitoring and preventive measures, it is essential to establish the workers’ exposure to industrial solvents.
The aim of the study is to investigate the efficiency of biochemical and
hematological parameters in biological monitoring of workers in annual
periodical examinations. In this study, 380 workers from nine different sectors
exposed to industrial toluene were selected as participants and urine hippuric
acid levels were analyzed with HPLC. ALT, AST, creatinine and hemogram analyses
were made by biochemical autoanalyser with commercial kits. Serum ALT, AST,
creatinine, hemoglobin, lymphocyte, neutrophil, platelet levels were compared
among groups whose hippuric acid urine levels which are ≤ 1000 μg/L and ≤ 2000
μg/L. An additional comparison were made between different occupations. No
statistically significant difference was found between these groups. It is
noteworthy to emphasize that, even in toxic blood levels, none of the
biochemical and hematological parameters showed statistically significant
changes. These results suggest that hematological and biochemical laboratory
parameters are not effective prognostic markers in annual periodical
examinations of workers and an effective parameter in diagnosis in emergency
services. The unique valuable marker is hippuric acid levels in urine.