Annals of Occupational Hygiene Advance Access originally published online on January 7, 2005
Annals of Occupational Hygiene 2005 49(3):241-243; doi:10.1093/annhyg/meh086
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
© 2005 British Occupational Hygiene Society Published by Oxford University Press;
Original Article |
Use of a Whole Blood Competitive Immunoassay for the Assessment of Worker Exposures to Propylene Oxide at Three Manufacturing Facilities
1 Lyondell Chemical Europe, Inc., Lyondell House, Bridge Avenue, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 1YP, UK; 2 Lyondell Chemie Nederland B.V., Europaweg 950, 3199 LC Maasvlakte Rt., P.O. Box 1050, 3180 AB Rozenburg ZH, The Netherlands; 3 Lyondell Chimie France SNC, Rte du Quai Mineralier, Zone Industrielle de Fos, 13270 Fos-sur-Mer, France
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +44 1628 775 260; fax: +44 1628 775 263; e-mail: alan.jones{at}lyondell.com
ABSTRACT
The level of N-(2-hydroxypropyl)valine adducts in haemoglobin has been shown to correlate well with workplace exposure to propylene oxide (PO). However, the analytical method, using the modified Edman degradation procedure, is prohibitively time-consuming and expensive for use as a routine workplace exposure measurement tool. As an alternative, AB Biomonitoring Ltd of Cardiff, Wales, developed a competitive immunoassay for the determination of N-(2-hydroxypropyl)valine adducts in human haemoglobin. Studies showed that whole blood samples analysed using an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the modified Edman degradation procedure over the concentration range 3.7–992 nmol N-(2-hydroxypropyl)valine g–1 haemoglobin are in good agreement (correlation coefficient 0.998, n = 10). The intervariance and intravariance data indicate the repeatability of the ELISA method over the assay conditions employed and show that it is robust over its working range [2–200 pmol N-(2-hydroxypropyl)valine g–1 haemoglobin]. The assay employs a whole blood matrix and has a working range of 2–6000 pmol g–1 Hb (equivalent to up to 5 ppm PO exposure, 8 h per day, 5 days per week, over 4 months). The practicality of the assay was tested by assessing exposures to PO at three world-scale manufacturing sites in France and The Netherlands. Over 800 samples were taken over a 2 year period from operators, maintenance fitters and office staff. The data, typically <50 pmol g–1 globin, indicate that exposures were significantly <0.1 ppm at all times (The Dutch occupational exposure limit is 2.5 ppm over 8 h). Samples were taken after a major turnaround and also before and after the start-up of a newly commissioned plant. All data indicated that high levels of control were effective in minimizing exposure. This study has shown that the immunoassay is a powerful tool for the exposure component of future epidemiology studies, as well as a definitive demonstration of the effectiveness of exposure controls.
Keywords: biological monitoring • exposure measurement • haemoglobin adducts • immunoassay • propylene oxide
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  J. G. Filser, C. Hutzler, F. Rampf, W. Kessler, T. H. Faller, E. Leibold, C. Putz, S. Halbach, and G. A. Csanady Concentrations of the Propylene Metabolite Propylene Oxide in Blood of Propylene-Exposed Rats and Humans--a Basis for Risk Assessment Toxicol. Sci., April 1, 2008; 102(2): 219 - 231. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. A. Csanady and J. G. Filser A Physiological Toxicokinetic Model for Inhaled Propylene Oxide in Rat and Human with Special Emphasis on the Nose Toxicol. Sci., January 1, 2007; 95(1): 37 - 62. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|