J Clin Pathol Qual Control.  1999 Dec;21(2):259-264.

Determination of Urine Hippuric Acid Concentration by HPLC Method: A Screening Test for Glue Sniffing in the Adolescents

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Clinical Pathology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine and Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
  • 2Department of Family Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine and Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
  • 3Department of Psychiatry, University of Ulsan College of Medicine and Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
  • 4Department of Clinical Pathology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine and Asan Medical Center, Ulsan, Korea.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Glue sniffing is a social problem in adolescents. For the major component of glue is toluene and its metabolite is hippuric acid (HA), Urine HA may be used to screen glue sniffing. We studied the method of determining urine HA concentration by HPLC and tried to establish normal reference range of adults and adolescents. We evaluated HA concentration according to the experience of glue sniffing informed by the questionnaire.
METHODS
Among normal adults selected from health enhancement clinic, males were 26 (36+/-8 years old) and females were 25 (37+/-7), We surveyed 739 adolescents of one high school in Seoul with the questionnaire. Three answered they experienced glue sniffing. Fifty seven adolescents without glue sniffing experience were randomly selected and tested, and six painters were also tested before and after the painting. We tested urine HA by HPLC method.
RESULTS
Intra-run coefficient of variation (CV) of HPLC method was 2.8% and between-run CV was 3.4%. The results of normal adults and adolescents showed left-skewed distribution. Median and 95 percentile were 0.28 g/L, and 1.03 g/L each for normal adults and 0.22 g/L, and 0.85 g/L each for adolescents. For three with glue sniffing history, urine HA were 0.25 g/L, 0.31 g/L and 0.48%/L. For 6 painters, urine HA was 0.44+/-0.19 g/L before the painting and 0.17+/-0.09 g/L after.
CONCLUSION
We established HPLC method of determining urine HA concentration and tested for normal subjects. It could be easily performed and was very precise. Considering the results of glue sniffers and painters, pharmacokinetic study will be needed about toluene in Koreans.


MeSH Terms

Adhesives*
Adolescent*
Adult
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid*
Female
Humans
Inhalant Abuse*
Male
Mass Screening*
Paint
Paintings
Reference Values
Seoul
Social Problems
Toluene
Surveys and Questionnaires
Adhesives
Toluene
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