Hippuric acid and o-cresol in the urine of workers exposed to toluene.

Factory workers, 74 males and 56 females exposed predominantly to toluene up to 129 ppm, were examined for the urinary excretion of hippuric acid and o-cresol. The time-weighted averages (TWA) of toluene exposure were measured by personal sampling with carbon felt dosimeters. A preliminary study revealed that the concentrations of hippuric acid and o-cresol in urine increased during work and both reach their peaks at the end of the shift. Correlation coefficients between the TWA of toluene concentration in air and hippuric acid concentration in urine collected at the end of the shift were 0.803 for the 74 males, and 0.830 for the 56 females, while the counterpart correlation coefficients between toluene and o-cresol were 0.607 for the 74 males, and 0.627 for the 56 females, suggesting that hippuric acid is more reliable than o-cresol as an index of toluene exposure. In the urine samples (4 to 8 samples per subject) collected during 8-h worktime from 11 males and 13 females, the urinary levels of o-cresol increased as a function of exposure time in parallel with those of hippuric acid, and the correlation coefficients between o-cresol and hippuric acid were significant (r = 0.834 approximately 0.987; P less than 0.05) when the urine samples from the same subjects were examined. The comparison of the slopes of 24 regression lines between o-cresol and hippuric acid in urine revealed that the maximal slope was almost 8 times as large as the minimal one. From 8 female workers, five urine samples each were collected during 8-h worktime on two consecutive Mondays and analyzed for the two metabolites. The slopes of the regression lines between o-cresol and hippuric acid in the samples from the same subject were identical, regardless of variation in exposure intensity. The findings indicate that an individual difference exists in the pattern of toluene metabolism, and that the ratio between aliphatic and aromatic oxidation is presumably set congenitally. Possible toxicological significance is discussed.