ABSTRACT
The persistence in rats of sulfur mustard adducts to albumin and hemoglobin was studied in vivo after exposure (intravenously; 0.3 mg/kg; approximately 0.1 LD(50)) of rats to sulfur mustard. The albumin adduct (S-HETE)Cys-Pro-Tyr was detectable up to 7 days after the exposure, while the adduct to the N-terminal valine in hemoglobin was still detected after 28 days. The decrease in adduct levels corresponded well with the half-life time of albumin in rats and with the lifetime of the rat erythrocyte. Remarkably, the N-terminal valine adduct to hemoglobin increased during the first three days, which implies that there is still free sulfur mustard present during that time. In contrast, the corresponding albumin adduct levels did not increase during this time period. The free sulfur mustard might have accumulated in the erythrocyte cell membrane.
Subject(s)
Hemoglobins/metabolism , Mass Spectrometry/methods , Mustard Gas/analysis , Serum Albumin/metabolism , Alkylation , Animals , Biomarkers/blood , Chromatography, Affinity , Chromatography, Liquid , Environmental Exposure/analysis , Environmental Monitoring/methods , Hemoglobins/chemistry , Injections, Intravenous , Male , Mustard Gas/administration & dosage , Mustard Gas/metabolism , Pronase/chemistry , Pronase/metabolism , Rats , Rats, Wistar , Serum Albumin/chemistry , Serum Albumin/isolation & purification , Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization , Tandem Mass SpectrometryABSTRACT
The use of large volume injections has been studied for the verification of intact organophosphorus chemical warfare agents in water samples. As the use of ethyl acetate caused severe detection problems new potential solvents were evaluated. With the developed procedure, the nerve agents sarin, tabun, soman, DFP and VX can be determined in freshly prepared water samples at ppt levels. Except for the nerve agent tabun all other agents added to the water samples were still present after 8 days at 20-60% levels, if the pH of the water sample is adjusted to ca. 5 shortly after sampling and adjusted to pH 7 for analysis.
