| Biological Monitoring of Workers Exposed to N-Nitrosodiethanolamine in the Metal Industry
Silvano Monarca,1
Giuseppina Scassellati-Sforzolini,2
Francesco Donato,3
Giuseppe Angeli,2
Berthold Spiegelhalder,4
Cristina Fatigoni,2
and Rossana Pasquini2
1Department of Environmental Health, University of Brescia, I-25124 Brescia, Italy;
2Department of Hygiene, University of Perugia, I-06126 Perugia, Italy;
3Department of Hygiene, University of Brescia, I-25124 Brescia, Italy;
4Institute for Toxicology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany Abstract
Biological monitoring of occupational hazards was performed in workers using cutting fluids containing N-nitrosodiethanolamine (NDELA) . The study involved a group of 25 male subjects from some metal factories in central Italy who used cutting fluids with an NDELA content of  5 mg/l (high-exposure group) and a group of 37 males exposed to cutting fluids with an NDELA content <5 mg/l (low-exposure group) . For comparison, we recruited a control group consisting of 37 subjects living in the same area. For all subjects, internal dose (urinary excretion of NDELA, mutagens, and thioethers) , early biological effects (sister chromatid exchanges in blood peripheral lymphocytes) , and urinary excretion of d-glucaric acid (DGA) as an endpoint product in the glucuronidation pathway were assessed. The results showed that only the workers using cutting fluids with NDELA concentrations of 5 mg/l excreted trace amounts of NDELA in their urine. Urine excretion of mutagens was similar in the two exposure groups and in the controls. High-exposure subjects had a higher mean value of urinary thioethers than low-exposure and control subjects, but no differences were found in urinary DGA or lymphocyte sister chromatid exchange among the three groups. Smoking status increased the mean values of all the biomarkers, and coffee drinking was associated with urinary DGA excretion. Key words: cutting fluids, genotoxicity, hepatic induction, lymphocyte sister chromatid exchange, N-nitrosodiethanolamine, urinary d-glucaric acid, urinary mutagenicity, urinary thioethers. Environ Health Perspect 104:78-82 (1996)
Address correspondence to S. Monarca, Department of Environmental Health, University of Brescia, Via Valsabbina 19, I-25124 Brescia, Italy. Received 19 June 1995 ; accepted 26 September 1995.
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