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. 2007 Oct;115(10):1474-8.
doi: 10.1289/ehp.10141.

Assessing exposure to atrazine and its metabolites using biomonitoring

Dana B Barr  1 , Parinya Panuwet, Johnny V Nguyen, Simeon Udunka, Larry L Needham
Affiliations

Assessing exposure to atrazine and its metabolites using biomonitoring

Dana B Barr et al. Environ Health Perspect. 2007 Oct.

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.

Keywords: atrazine; chlorotriazines; environmental; exposure assessment.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
. Proposed metabolism of ATZ. ATZ is shown in black; dealkylated metabolites are shown in green; hydroxylated metabolites are shown in blue; and glutathione-derived mercapturic acid metabolites are shown in red. Abbreviations: ATZ, atrazine; ATZ-OH, hydroxyatrazine; AM, atrazine mercapturate; DACT, diaminochlorotriazine; DATM, diaminotriazine mercapturate; DEA, desethylatrazine; DEAM, desethylatrazine mercapturate; DEA-OH, hydroxydesethylatrazine; DIA, desisopropyl atrazine; DIAM, desisopropylatrazine mercapturate.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mass chromatogram of metabolites measured. AM, atrazine mercapturate; ATZ, atrazine; ATZ-OH, hydroxyatrazine; DACT, diaminochlorotriazine; DEA, desethylatrazine; DEAM, desethylatrazine mercapturate; DEA-OH, hydroxydesethylatrazine; DIA, desisopropyl atrazine; DIA-OH, hydroxydesisopropylatrazine; SCX, strong cation exchange.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Metabolite profile of turf applicators using just AM and multiple metabolites. AM, atrazine mercapturate; ATZ, atrazine; ATZ-OH, hydroxyatrazine; DACT, diaminochlorotriazine; DEA, desethylatrazine; DEA-OH, hydroxydesethylatrazine; DIA, desisopropyl atrazine.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Metabolite profile of lower level exposures using AM and multiple metabolites. Abbreviations: AM, atrazine mercapturate; ATZ, atrazine; ATZ-OH, hydroxyatrazine; DACT, diaminochlorotriazine; DEA, desethylatrazine; DEA-OH, hydroxydesethylatrazine; DIA, desisopropyl atrazine; DIA-OH, hydroxydesisopropylatrazine.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Average percent contribution of each metabolite to the total atrazine-related metabolite level for high, lower, and environmental exposures. Abbreviations: ATZ, atrazine; ATZ-OH, hydroxyatrazine; AM, atrazine mercapturate; DACT, diaminochlorotriazine; DEA, desethylatrazine; DEA-OH, hydroxydesethylatrazine; DIA, desisopropyl atrazine.
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