Immunomodulatory effects of mono-, di-, and trimethylphenols in mice.

The relationship of air pollutants with the increasing prevalence of allergic diseases is a matter of concern in developed countries. In this study, the immunomodulatory effects of mono-, di-, and trimethylphenols in mice were examined as regards two aspects. First, whether or not these chemicals act as sensitizers was evaluated by local lymph node assay.

Simultaneous determination of metabolites of trimethylbenzenes, dimethylbenzylmercapturicacid and dimethylhippuric acid, in human urine by solid-phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.

We describe a novel method for the determination of three kinds of dimethylbenzylmercapturic acids (DMM) and six kinds of dimethylhippuric acids (DMH), found in urine as metabolites of trimethylbenzenes, based on liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. A solid-phase extraction procedure was used for the extractions of DMM and DMH from a urine sample, and the separation was performed on a reversed-phase C(30) column. The analytes were ionized by electrospray in the positive-ion mode.