Mercapturic acids: recent advances in their determination by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry and their use in toxicant metabolism studies and in occupational and environmental exposure studies

Abstract

This review describes recent selected HPLC/MS methods for the determination of urinary mercapturates that are useful as noninvasive biomarkers in characterizing human exposure to electrophilic industrial chemicals in occupational and environmental studies. High-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry is a sensitive and specific method for analysis of small molecules found in biological fluids. In this review, recent selected mercapturate quantification methods are summarized and specific cases are presented. The biological formation of mercapturates is introduced and their use as indicators of metabolic processing of reactive toxicants is discussed, as well as future trends and limitations in this area of research.

• Internal exposure
• liquid chromatography
• mass spectrometry
• mercapturic acid
• toxicant metabolism
• urinary biomarker

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Kenneth L. Cheever, Dennis W. Lynch and Amy L. Roe for their assistance as reviewers in the preparation of this manuscript.

Declaration of interest

The authors hereby report that we have no conflict of interest with the material reported in this paper. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper.

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Mention of company names and/or products does not constitute an endorsement by NIOSH