| Assessing Exposure to Atrazine and Its Metabolites Using Biomonitoring Dana B. Barr, Parinya Panuwet, Johnny V. Nguyen, Simeon Udunka, and Larry L. Needham Division of Laboratory Sciences, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Abstract
Background: Atrazine (ATZ) is the second most abundantly applied pesticide in the United States. When we assessed exposure to ATZ by measuring its urinary mercapturic acid metabolite, general population data indicated that < 5% of the population was exposed to ATZ-related chemicals (limit of detection < 0.8 ng/mL) . Objectives: The aim of our study was to determine if we were underestimating ATZ exposure by measuring its urinary mercapturic acid metabolite and if the urinary metabole profile changed with the exposure scenario. Methods: We conducted a small-scale study involving 24 persons classified as high- (n = 8) , low- (n = 5) , and environmental- (n = 11) exposed to ATZ. Using online solid phase extraction high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry, we measured nine ATZ-related metabolites in urine that included dealkylated, hydroxylated, and mercapturic acid metabolites. Results: We found that the urinary metabolite profiles varied greatly among exposure scenarios and among persons within each exposure scenario. Although diaminochlorotriazine (DACT) appeared to be the predominant urinary metabolite detected in each exposure category, the variation in proportion of total ATZ metabolites among persons was consistently large, suggesting that one metabolite alone could not be measured as a surrogate for ATZ exposure. Conclusions: We have likely been underestimating population-based exposures by measuring only one urinary ATZ metabolite. Multiple urinary metabolites must be measured to accurately classify exposure to ATZ and its environmental degradates. Regardless, DACT and desethylatrazine appear to be the most important metabolites to measure to evaluate exposures to ATZ-related chemicals. Key words: atrazine, chlorotriazines, environmental, exposure assessment. Environ Health Perspect 115:1474–1478 (2007) . doi:10.1289/ehp.10141 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 18 July 2007]
Address correspondence to D.B. Barr, CDC, 4770 Buford Hwy., Mailstop F17, (overnight mail: Building 103, Loading Dock) , Atlanta, GA 30341 USA. Telephone: (770) 488-7886. Fax: (770) 488-0142. E-mail: dbarr@cdc.gov We thank the Oak Ridge Institute for Science Education for administration of the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) program providing support for P.P. The opinions presented in this article are strictly the opinions of the authors and do not reflect official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 5 February 2007 ; accepted 17 July 2007.
Correction The percent contribution for "Low-level acute exposures" in Figure 5 was changed from that in the original manuscript published online.
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