RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Evidence for urinary excretion of glucuronide conjugates of nicotine, cotinine, and trans-3'-hydroxycotinine in smokers.
JF Drug Metabolism and Disposition
JO Drug Metab Dispos
FD American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
SP 192
OP 197
VO 20
IS 2
A1 G D Byrd
A1 K M Chang
A1 J M Greene
A1 J D deBethizy
YR 1992
UL http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/20/2/192.abstract
AB Urinary nicotine metabolic output was profiled for 11 smokers who smoked their regular cigarette brands ad libitum. Thermospray liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry was used to monitor nicotine and eight metabolites, including glucuronide conjugates of nicotine, cotinine, and trans-3'-hydroxycotinine that were determined indirectly using enzyme hydrolysis. These results were used to estimate an average, steady-state concentration in a 24-hr urine sample during ad libitum smoking and to assess interindividual variability in the excretion of these metabolites. The variability in absolute amount among the nine analytes ranged from 35 to 70% for these smokers. The glucuronide conjugates constituted an average of 29% of all urinary metabolites monitored in this study. trans-3'-Hydroxycotinine in the free form constitutes the largest single metabolite in smokers' urine, with an average of 35% of the total. The sums of nicotine metabolites determined here are very close to the Federal Trade Commission yields of nicotine for the total number of cigarettes smoked by these subjects during the urine collection interval. These results indicate that a large proportion of the nicotine absorbed while smoking can be accounted for as urinary metabolites of nicotine, including glucuronide conjugates of nicotine, cotinine, and trans-3'-hydroxycotinine.