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British Journal of Industrial Medicine logoLink to British Journal of Industrial Medicine
. 1963 Jan;20(1):41–46. doi: 10.1136/oem.20.1.41

Evaluation of Exposure to Nitrobenzene: Absorption of Nitrobenzene Vapour through Lungs and Excretion of p-Nitrophenol in Urine

J Salmowa 1, J Piotrowski 1, U Neuhorn 1
PMCID: PMC1039187  PMID: 13991167

Abstract

In order to obtain a quantitative test for measuring exposure to nitrobenzene, experiments on men were done, in which nitrobenzene vapours (5 to 30 μg./l.) were absorbed into the lungs only. During an exposure of six hours the retention of nitrobenzene in the lungs diminished from approximately 87 to 73%. p-Aminophenol was not detected in the urine by the method used. Another metabolite, p-nitrophenol, was estimated in the urine of the exposed subjects; the quantities present represented about 13% of the inhaled dose of nitrobenzene. It was found that the determination of p-nitrophenol in urine could be used as a quantitative test when a single exposure to nitrobenzene occurred with a precision of approximately ± 8 mg. nitrobenzene. p-Nitrophenol is excreted in urine very slowly and therefore it may accumulate in the body. To evaluate the results of the proposed test in the case of a repeated exposure further investigations are necessary.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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