US EPA

2251481 

Technical Report 

Ethylene Glycol Dinitrate 

Hogstedt, C 

1984 

NIOSH/00165072 

Riihimaki 

ED. 

187-192 

English 

Biological monitoring of ethylene-glycol-dinitrate (628966) (EGDN) was discussed, and health effects of EGDN were summarized. EGDN causes throbbing headache, increased pulse rate, palpitation, and vomiting as a result of vasodilation. Absorption and metabolism of EGDN were reviewed. EGDN is absorbed by inhalation and percutaneously. It is rapidly metabolized in the liver and blood, and is quickly eliminated from the blood. Metabolism of EGDN occurs by stepwise detachment of the organic nitrate groups from the carbon skeleton, resulting in the formation of inorganic nitrite (1594565) and nitrate compounds. Attempts have been made to monitor exposure to EGDN by measuring venous blood concentrations. No reliable quantitative correlation of blood EGDN with air EGDN concentrations could be established. Blood samples that contain EGDN qualitatively indicate that exposure has occurred. EGDN can be detected in the urine of dynamite workers, but no study of the feasibility of monitoring exposure by urine samples has been reported. The author concludes that the failure to monitor EGDN by directly determining EGDN concentrations in venous blood demonstrates the importance of obtaining samples that are representative of the systemic circulation and searching for more stable metabolites if the parent compound has a short biological half life.