Effect of Cigarette Smoking on Urinary and Salivary Thiocyanates

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Abstract
Urinary thiocyanates were measured among ten smokers and seven nonsmokers and salivary thiocyanates among eight smokers and two nonsmokers in an attempt to correlate the compound with smoking schedules of increased, normal, and reduced cigarette consumption. Thiocyanate levels, determined by the Aldridge cyanogen bromide method, were only roughly proportional to smoking pattern, with large individual variation. Salivary levels, which differed greatly between smokers and nonsmokers, correlated better with cigarette consumption than did urinary levels. A very rapid increase in salivary thiocyanates was obtained during and immediately after the smoking of one cigarette, which could partially explain the large within- and between-subject variability in the main study. Although neither urinary nor salivary thiocyanates can serve as a precise index of individual exposure to smoking, the reliability of salivary measurements could be employed to separate large populations of smokers and nonsmokers.

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