Variation in volatile organic compounds in the breath of normal humans.

We studied the variation in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the breath of 50 normal humans, using gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy. An average breath sample contained 204.2 VOCs (SD=19.8, range 157-241). The alveolar gradient of each VOC (abundance in breath minus abundance in air) varied with rate of synthesis minus rate of clearance. A total of 3481 different VOCs were observed: 1753 with positive alveolar gradients, 1728 with negative alveolar gradients. Twenty-seven VOCs were observed in all fifty subjects. This study confirmed previous reports of wide inter-individual variations. Two new findings were the comparatively small variation in total number of breath VOCs, and the presence of a 'common core' of breath VOCs in all subjects.

[1]  M. Phillips,et al.  Increased pentane and carbon disulfide in the breath of patients with schizophrenia. , 1993, Journal of clinical pathology.

[2]  P. Sobotka,et al.  High breath pentane concentrations during acute myocardial infarction , 1991, The Lancet.

[3]  C. Kneepkens,et al.  The potential of the hydrocarbon breath test as a measure of lipid peroxidation. , 1994, Free radical biology & medicine.

[4]  J. P. Conkle,et al.  Trace composition of human respiratory gas. , 1975, Archives of environmental health.

[5]  P. Boyle,et al.  Diet and oxidative stress in breast, colon and prostate cancer patients: a case-control study. , 1994, European journal of clinical nutrition.

[6]  R. D. Stewart,et al.  EXPIRED-AIR ACETONE IN DIABETES MELLITUS. , 1964, The New England journal of medicine.

[7]  Sobotka Pa,et al.  Breath pentane is a marker of acute cardiac allograft rejection. , 1994 .

[8]  M. Phillips,et al.  Breath tests in medicine. , 1992, Scientific American.

[9]  M. Phillips.  Method for the collection and assay of volatile organic compounds in breath. , 1997, Analytical biochemistry.

[10]  T. Hintze,et al.  Cytochrome P-450 oxidation of alkanes originating as scission products during lipid peroxidation. , 1984, Xenobiotica; the fate of foreign compounds in biological systems.

[11]  C. Kneepkens,et al.  The hydrocarbon breath test in the study of lipid peroxidation: principles and practice. , 1992, Clinical and investigative medicine. Medecine clinique et experimentale.

[12]  M. Phillips,et al.  Detection of carbon disulfide in breath and air: a possible new risk factor for coronary artery disease , 1992, International archives of occupational and environmental health.