Cyanide and Thiocyanate in Human Saliva by Gas - Journal of ...

espectively, by the TBAS method (Table I). Standard solutions
of CN and SCN were stable in water for at least 2 months. In
different batch analysis, the ratios of CN/IS or SCN/IS were
within + 20%. Both CN and SCN were stable in saliva stored at
2--4~ for 7 days. When six specimens were tested again, the re-
sults were within _+ 20% of the original values.
Three previously published studies found concentrations of
SCN in saliva of smokers to be 1655 +_ 841 IJmol/L (N = 20),
3620 _+ 1720 tJmol/L (N = 5), and 2050 _+ 450 lJmol/L (N = 3)
(4,28,33). These concentrations are much higher than those
found for nonsmokers in this study, 655 _+ 215 IJmol/L. In a
study of smokers with toxic amblyopia, the investigators found
that plasma SCN concentrations returned to the nonsmoker
range due to an inability to convert CN to SCN (8,9,15). Other
clinical abnormalities have also been reported in individuals
who ingest cassava and have elevated plasma levels of SCN
(10-12). It has also been proposed that identifying endoge-
nous components of saliva, such as CN and SCN, could be
used to prove that specimens collected in drug testing pro-
grams are valid (36). One would expect that these various
groups could be distinguished based on CN and SCN concen-
trations in their saliva.
Conclusions
Both CN and SCN are present in body fluids in different
amounts. The validated GC-MS procedure presented here de-
tects CN and SCN in saliva as low as 1.0 and 5.0 IJmol/L, re-
spectively. In 10 specimens, the CN and SCN concentrations
ranged from 4.8 to 29 lJmol/L and 293 to 1029 IJmol/L, re-
spectively. The CN concentration was 0.8-3.7% of the SCN
concentration. The saliva SCN concentrations found in this ex-
periment were comparable with other literature procedures,
supporting validity of the GC-MS method. The procedure may
be useful in forensic drug testing when specimen validity
testing is required and also in classifying patients as smokers
or non-smokers.
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