Determination of urinary 4,4'-methylenedianiline and its acetylated metabolites by solid-phase extraction and HPLC analysis with UV and electrochemical detection.

An analytical procedure based on solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography using both ultraviolet and electrochemical detection was developed to determine, without derivatization, stable urinary forms of 4,4'-methylenedianiline (MDA) and of its acetylated metabolites at the micrograms/l level, in post-shift urine from 63 exposed workers. The determination of MDA, N-acetyl MDA (MAMDA) and N,N'-diacetyl MDA (DAMDA) was achieved on the non-hydrolysed urine samples, and that of total MDA on urine samples after alkaline hydrolysis. It was necessary to protect urine samples with sulfamic acid in order to stabilize amines and to improve the precision and accuracy of the analyses. Under these conditions, unstable labile conjugates were determined as their parent stable amine. The distribution of total MDA, MDA, MAMDA and DAMDA was assessed in 116 urine samples. Their relative concentrations (arithmetic means) were found to be in the following order: total MDA > MAMDA > MDA > DAMDA. While MAMDA represented more than 50% of total MDA, MDA and DAMDA were lower than 15% and 3% respectively. Acetylation of MDA, described as a possible pathway of detoxication, is confirmed to be an important metabolization route in humans, essentially through the monoacetylated metabolite. However, the individual ratio MAMDA/total MDA was found to vary widely (roughly from 0% to 100%).