Breath Research Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Dornbirn, Austria.
Toxicol Mech Methods. 2012 Sep;22(7):502-11. doi: 10.3109/15376516.2012.682664.
The scent profile of human urine was investigated as potential source of chemical markers of human presence in collapsed buildings after natural or man-made disasters.
The main goals of this study were to build a library of potential biomarkers of human urine to be used for the detection of entrapped victims and to further examine their evolution profile in time.
Headspace solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) was used to detect and identify the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) spontaneously released from urine of 20 healthy volunteers. Additionally, the evolution of human urine headspace during four days storage at room temperature was investigated.
33 omnipresent species with incidence higher than 80% were selected as potential urine markers. The most represented chemical classes were ketones with 10 representatives, aldehydes (7 species) and sulfur compounds (7 species). The monitoring of the evolution of the urine scent demonstrated an increase in the emission of 26 omnipresent urinary volatiles (rise from 36% to 526%). The highest increase was noted for dimethyldisulfide and dimethyltrisulfide (fivefold increase) and 3-methyl-2-butanone, 4-methyl-2-pentanone and 3-hexanone (fourfold rise). Only three compounds exhibited decreasing trend; dimethylsulfone, octanal and propanal.
The ubiquitous urine VOCs identified within this study create a library of potential markers of human urine to be verified in further field studies, involving portable and sensitive instruments, directly applied in the field.
人类尿液的气味特征可被视为自然或人为灾难后倒塌建筑物中存在人体的化学标志物的潜在来源。
本研究的主要目标是建立一个人类尿液潜在生物标志物库，用于检测被困受害者，并进一步研究其随时间的演变特征。
采用顶空固相微萃取-气相色谱-质谱联用（HS-SPME-GC-MS）技术检测和鉴定 20 名健康志愿者尿液中自发释放的挥发性有机化合物（VOCs）。此外，还研究了人类尿液顶空在室温下储存四天过程中的演变情况。
选择 33 种出现率高于 80%的普遍存在的物质作为潜在的尿液标志物。最具代表性的化学类别是酮类（有 10 种代表物）、醛类（7 种）和硫化合物（7 种）。尿液气味演变的监测表明，26 种普遍存在的尿液挥发性物质的排放增加（从 36%增加到 526%）。二甲基二硫和二甲基三硫（增加五倍）以及 3-甲基-2-丁酮、4-甲基-2-戊酮和 3-己酮（增加四倍）的排放量增加最多。只有三种化合物呈下降趋势；二甲亚砜、辛醛和丙醛。
本研究中确定的普遍存在的尿液 VOC 为人类尿液的潜在生物标志物库的建立奠定了基础，这些标志物将在未来的现场研究中得到验证，涉及便携式和敏感仪器，可直接应用于现场。
