Reaction of nitroso derivatives of dinitropyrenes with sulfhydryl groups of peptides and hemoglobin in vitro and in rats

Diesel engine emissions have been classified as a potential human carcinogen and may cause a variety of other health effects. Human exposure to diesel engine emissions is highly variable within the population. Therefore, specific methods for the biomonitoring of human exposure to diesel engine emissions are required for exposure assessment within epidemiological studies. Haemoglobin adducts of dinitropyrenes may serve as biomarkers for human exposures to diesel engine emissions.To characterize structures of dinitropyrene reaction products with sulfhydryl groups, glutathione was used to trap electrophilic nitroso intermediates formed from dinitropyrenes and glutathione S-conjugates were identified and characterized by Qtrap techniques using (HPLC-MS/MS) high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. Nitrosonitropyrene-derived sulfinamides, sulfenamides and glutathione thioethers bound to carbon atoms in the aromatic ring, presumably formed by a rearrangement of inter...