Exposure to ethylene glycol ethers and spermatogenic disorders in man: a case-control study.

A case-control study was conducted among first time patients at a clinic for reproductive disorders. The study group consisted of 1019 cases, defined as patients diagnosed infertile or subfertile on the basis of a spermiogram and 475 controls who were diagnosed as normally fertile by the same procedure. Possible exposure to ethylene glycol ethers was assessed by the presence of the urinary metabolites methoxyacetic acid (MAA) and ethoxyacetic acid (EAA) respectively for 2-methoxyethanol and 2-ethoxyethanol or their acetates.

An improved method for the determination in urine of alkoxyacetic acids.

A sensitive and specific method for the determination in urine of alkoxyacetic acids, the metabolites of ethylene glycol monoalkyl ethers, was developed by combining the advantages of two previously described methods. The acids were determined gas chromatographically as their pentafluorobenzylesters. The alkylation with pentafluorobenzylbromide was performed after dissolving the dry residue of lyophilized urine in methanol.

Experimental human exposure to ethylene glycol monomethyl ether.

The uptake of EGME and the urinary excretion of its major metabolite (MAA) was studied in seven male volunteers during experimental exposure to EGME at rest. The exposure concentration was set at 16 mg/m3, the present Threshold Limit Value. A high retention (0.

Comparative urinary excretion of ethoxyacetic acid in man and rat after single low doses of ethylene glycol monoethyl ether.

Male rats were given a single oral dose of ethylene glycol monoethyl ether (EGEE), the dose ranging from plausible human exposures (0.5-1 mg/kg) to doses reported in the literature (100 mg/kg). Urinary excretion of ethoxyacetic acid (EAA) and its glycine conjugate was followed up to 60 h after dosing and compared to data of experimentally exposed human volunteers.