Protein binding of benzene under ambient exposure conditions

Abstract

Based on examination of exposure monitoring studies, we speculate that under ambient conditions benzene binds appreciably to plasma proteins. The binding capacity, n*[beta], is estimated to be on the order of 10(-9) chi M (90.0 ng/L) and the association constant, Kas, on the order of 2 X 10(10) M-1 (.3 L/ng). These values indicate that protein binding of benzene is characterized by a very small capacity with a very large affinity. We predict that steady-state exposure to ambient benzene air concentrations in the range of 10 ppb to 1 ppb will result in 35 to 80 percent of benzene in blood being bound to plasma proteins.