Relationships between airborne exposure and urinary metabolites of nail technicians

The study aimed to investigate the occupational exposure to airborne solvents in nail salons and to make clear whether relationships between airborne exposure and urinary metabolite excretion would be still useful as biomarkers. Twenty technicians as exposed group and twenty-one as control group were participated. The airborne solvents, urinary acetone and hippuric acid were determined by gas chromatography, UV-visible spectrometer and GC/MS spectrometry. When evaluated with the addictive effects using geometric mean value of each solvent, overall airborne solvents exposed were very low. Concentrations of urinary acetone and urinary hippuric acid were weakly correlated with those of airborne acetone and airborne toluene. In exposed group, urinary acetone concentration was not significant difference and hippuric acid was only slightly above those in control group. In conclusion, urinary acetone and hippuric acid excretion at low level of airborne acetone and toluene would be inadequate biomarkers.