Antipyrine Metabolism in Coke Oven Workers

Abstract

Antipyrine test has been widely used to study the effects of environmental factors on drug metabolism and liver capacity both in animals and man (Vesell 1978). Antipyrine clearance has also been used in testing workers exposure to mixtures of chemicals (Dössing 1982). Chemical industry workers, alcoholics and healthy controls have been compared in terms of their antipyrine metabolizing capacity earlier (Arvela et al 1988). It was concluded that although the large interindividual variability in antipyrine metabolism reduce the usefulness of the test in small groups, it still may be an useful test on an individual basis. In the present study the antipyrine test was evaluated in 6 individual coke oven workers before and after one year’s work in an atmosphere rich of various polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) which are known to induce drug metabolizing capacity of the liver.